Serious play at the MIT Game Lab
Serious play at the MIT Game Lab
Serious play at the MIT Game Lab
By Zach Winn
November 28, 2023
Summary
Welcome to an open house of the MIT Game Lab, where play and experimentation are joined by serious inquiry about the gaming industry and its role in society.
The Game Lab's work is designed to help students think critically about the games they've often been playing for years without considering the values they might project, and to prepare them to engage in thoughtful design practices themselves.
"Students come to the Game Lab because it sounds like fun, which is great, but they realize through our research that there's also something really serious at work in games," Game Lab Director and Professor T.L. Taylor says.
The Game Lab analyzes the gaming industry and its impact, explores new technologies and formats, and creates games that tackle important issues.
"There's a desire from our students to express themselves through games, whether that's through making educational games or games with specific messages or lessons," says Game Lab research scientist and lecturer Mikael Jakobsson.
"Games are a big part of most people's lives, so there's a thirst among our students for not only learning how to make games, but also studying games as social and cultural artefacts."
"We're not making games as much as studying them," says junior Michelle Liang, who works at the Game Lab as an undergraduate researcher.
Reference
Winn, Z. (2023, November 28). Serious play at the MIT Game Lab. MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. https://news.mit.edu/2023/serious-play-mit-game-lab-1128