[...] Alice has been providing some coverage of the event, but (just in case you missed it) for deeper thoughts check out her entry on public service gaming and Raph’s further thoughts on the subject. [...]

[...] Public Service Games A mini-meme seems to have caught regarding government funding and ‘public service games’:Serious Games SourceDavid Rejeski kicks of a meme about government as potential funding source for games ‘in the public good … (tags: GameBiz Games game-development Culture) Wonderland: On public service gamingAlice posts some thoughts that are, well, thought provoking, on the ‘public service games’ meme. … (tags: games gamebiz game-development funding publishing) Raph�s Website � Wonderland: On public service gaming Raph posts a good follow-up to Alice’s piece on ‘public service games’. His point on the fight for visibility with increasingly choice-innundated consumers is a good one. … (tags: gamebiz games Culture publishing funding) All three are good reads. While I’m tempted to post a lengthy follow-up, I haven’t the time right now. Here’s the short version:Terms like “enlighten the public” and “public good” are pretty loaded terms. No different than with other mediums, except perhaps that the decision about ‘whats good for you’ is likely to fall, in the short term anyway, in the hands of the non-gaming generation. That aside though, there’s still a values issue here.I’m curious to see if the meme spreads, and what the different take will be country to country. e.g. We’ve already seen US and UK PoV’s. Any canucks ready to chime in? Chinese?Related to the above, and I guess this holds true for TV in the age of internet broadcast – when a gov’t agency makes a choice about making content in the ‘public good’ – who’s public are they looking at? What you produce will be consumed in other countries as well…Finally, if anyone at the CBC is listening, I’m all for their funding games, and would imagine there are a ton of game scenarios that could be wrapped around the Beachcombers license. And I for one, would be first to sign up to develop the “Toronto Maple Leafs Sweatshirt” animated vignette into a game. (This won’t make sense to most, but somewhere, a Canadian is giggling). [...]

The 401k idea is pretty cool.

We should also think about games as tools for proactively doing good.

I posted one idea a few weeks ago, Warhammer 401k, that posits a government funded and run MMO that uses the subscription fee to build up the retirement accounts of young people when the power of compound interest does them the most good.

There is nothing “serious games” about the MMO, but the net effect is that kids playing the game would be building their retirement nest egg.

I think this kind of proactive approach would also be well served by a corporation for public gaming.

Anyway, I do agree that exposure and distribution are more important limiting factors on non-standard game fare than just money. Given the previous, the latter will in some measure follow.

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