Tuesday Talks presents Dr. Curt Gervich 11/12/24

[Kristin Short]

Tuesday Talks presents Dr. Curt Gervich, Professor in the Center for Earth
and Environmental Science at SUNY Plattsburgh, speaking on "Playing Games
to Build Community and Advance Social Change" on *Tuesday, November 12,
2024 at 5pm* in the Angell College Center's Alumni Conference Room. Below
is an abstract of Dr. Gervich's presentation.



This case study research explores the theories, objectives and gaming
formats developed by the creators of urban escape games, and considers what
these games and their designers can teach urban planners about cities,
sustainability and placemaking. The theory of transformative play provides
a framework for considering the potential of games to advance social
change. Urban planners are social changemakers that strive to create just,
livable and sustainable cities. Two innovative gaming companies, Mystery
City Games (MCG) and Questo, are experimenting with novel gaming formats
that bridge urban planning and transformative play. These companies create
real-world exploration games during which players solve mysteries by
cracking codes, riddles and puzzles that are situated in the urban
landscape. The games produced by MCG and Questo immerse players in the
cityscape and require deep observation of the urban form in order to
achieve success.  MCG creates highly researched outdoor escape games based
on historical events. Examples include *The Secret of Cerda*, which
features the role of municipal planner Ildefons Cerda (1815-1876) in
shaping the urban landscape of Barcelona, and *Outbreak London*, which
follows the story of John Snow as he unravels the epidemiology of London’s
19th century cholera outbreak. Questo, on the other hand, has developed an
open-source app that allows anyone to build a Questo escape game.
Consequently, the Questo platform offers games by a diverse community of
amateur designers. Many Questo games tell hyperlocal stories and directly
confront social problems such as racism, fascism and environmental
degradation. Examples include Ludvig Larsendahl’s *City of My Dreams: A
Working Class Adventure on Sodermalm*, which provides a glimpse into the
struggles of a 19th century day-laborer in Stockholm, and *Garbatella:
Street Art and Resistance in Rome*, by Ciara O’Siorain, which tells the
story of Rome’s rebellious Garbatella neighborhood. This presentation will
feature interviews with MCG and Questo game developers, describe the play
experiences of games created by both companies, and synthesize learning
from these games within the context of urban sustainability and placemaking.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://ls.plattsburgh.edu/pipermail/employee-digest/attachments/20241107/5fee1af3/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Curt Gervich 11.12.24.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 198260 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://ls.plattsburgh.edu/pipermail/employee-digest/attachments/20241107/5fee1af3/attachment.pdf>