Last month I have the honor of getting to speak at the Society for Photographic Education, South Central conference in Bossier City, Louisiana. I’ve been a member of SPE since 2010 and have exhibited some of my work in some of their shows but this was my first time speaking at an SPE conference so it was a really special experience.
I had prepped a pretty straight forward introductory talk on game-based learning to be followed by the 30+ attendees getting to play Lumen and experience game-based learning for themselves but I ended up changing my talk a bit at the last minute. The morning presentations leading up to mine were all super heavy so I felt like I needed to transition the mood a bit more for mine. I ended up speaking more about why I’m passionate about game-based learning and why I think game-based learning is needed in this day and age and I could tell that resonated with quite a few people. Yay!
Games have often been thought frivolous but I personally have found them essential for my mental health and great vehicles for experiential learning. When we’re kids we naturally learn by playing and creating games but at a certain point in our development most of us are told we have to stop playing and get serious. Personally, I think that’s horrible advice.
We live in a time where we’re constantly aware of every awful thing happening in the world. We’re overworked, overwhelmed with stress, and often subject to crushing amounts of peer/societal pressure. We need play and joy in our lives now more than ever and games are a great vehicle for that. In an ideal world everyone would know that it’s okay to play and have fun while also being productive but since so many of us have been programmed to believe that it’s not I feel it’s important to give people permission, or at least an opportunity, to play and relax a bit. Technically none of us need permission from anyone else but that doesn’t mean we don’t still desire it. I know I love when people give me an excuse to be silly or playful and I know I’m not alone in that feeling.
My talk went well and people were already jumping into Lumen before I went over how to play so that was very exciting to see. I even got to sit down and play with one table and it was such a delight to see everyone having a great time. It was exactly the kind of reaction I was hoping for and is the reason I love games so much. I got some great feedback afterwards and now feel ALL THE PRESSURE to get this game out ASAP. 😅
