"Serious Games: Digital games for Learning and Communication" - Conference Overview
On Tuesday, June 19th we assisted the conference titled "Serious Games: Digital Games for Learning and Communication" that took place in the building of the Old University of Athens, under the Acropolis rock. The conference was directed at investigators, teachers and trainers, software creators and designers as well as companies that are active in the field of Serious Games.
Before the start of the presentations, there was an exhibition space where selected works by various creators were displayed to the public, offering the chance for a brief familiarization with interesting and varied works.
Mr. Anestis Filopoulos from PROMEA
The conference began with a presentation by PROMEA on the field of digital educational games, shedding light onto the greek reality through the conclusions of the european investigation program LUDUS. The results are highly encouraging, highlighting the advantages of serious games in education as well as identifying the high interest of the public around serious games.
Mr. Giorgos Vellidis from WWF
Afterwards, several different game creators presented briefly a selection of works as well as the specific approach of each case. We heard presentations by the companies / organisations ALBA, Ellinogermaniki Agogi, Personal Cinema, Benaki Museum, WWF, while Point Blank presented five of our works in the fields of education and culture.
Stelios Kourakis from Point Blank
After a short break, the conference continued with a series of presentations on the development, perspectives and networking in the sector of Serious Games. The companies/institutions PROMEA, the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, the Greek People Management Association and Aventurine presented their respective evaluation of the present state of the field as well as their visions for the future.
Mr. Tasos Flabouras from Aventurine
After the presentations concluded, a series of round tables started dealing with selected topics with the double aim of networking and information interchange among the growing ecosystem of digital educational games. Once the discussion rounds finalised, a summary of the results of all tables was presented to the plenary, and the conference concluded with a pleasant dinner under the splendid view of the Acropolis.
We would like to congratulate the organisers for a highly successful event that managed to keep a fast pace and fulfill the demands of the audience. The sector seems to enjoy a promising future, and the networking among the professionals of the field and the prospective clients is an urgent need.
For anyone interested, there are more events upcoming in the field. On October 2012 there are plans to organise a game design workshop, while HGDA (Hellenic Game Developers Association) is organising a 48-hour game jam to take place in September 2012. We are looking forward to assisting in more such community gatherings!
