Kars Alfrink: The Social Contract Put at Play

Society is self-divided in a myriad ways, but the greatest divide stems from groups of people deriving their world views from exposure to different media that they interpret using vastly disparate frames. This is a compounded problem of media diet and educational background.

This talk champions games, tools of subjective simulation, as our best weapon to punch holes through this conceptual boundary. Games can function as interventions in the passive, one-directed view of society pushed by most media. They provide fresh contexts for thinking about how people are allowed – or allow themselves – to behave and why they do so.

To some extent such a movement is already taking place. But current forms often instrumentalize games and in doing so forfeit their greatest strength. The ambiguity and open-endedness of games are hard to deal with for many stakeholders, but they are vital for a successful game that values its players as more than just pawns in a monetization scheme.

Making these kind of games requires designers with both vision and integrity. This talk will attempt to show a way forward that is workable for designers and decision makers and above all fun for all involved.