ICTworks

Look around most Southeast Asian cities, and you’ll soon notice one thing they all have in common: lots of people playing games on their mobile phones. But besides helping to distract during a long commute, can games provide tangible benefit to people’s lives?

There is a growing recognition that "serious" games can increase engagement and understanding of development issues, particularly with youth. As Jennifer Lentfer says, the use of games in development can:

• Be a quicker and more effective way to engage communities,
• Result in more productive dialogue than with traditional engagement processes,
• Trigger independent actions at the community or individual level.

But are games, serious or not, really a better way to do development? Can mobile games engage and motivate better than in-person participatory processes? Or do they seem a flippant extravagance in the face of real suffering?

Please RSVP now to join us for the first Technology Salon Bangkok. We’ll have three thought leaders to guide us in a discussion on when, how, and with whom we should use games in development:

• Sittichai Theppaitoon from Debuz Co. Ltd, developer of Captain Mandala HIV/AIDS Prevention Unit.
• Patipat Susumpow from Opendream, developer of Sai Fah Flood Fighter.
• Lucien Parsons from ZeniMax Online Studios, a Bethesda Games studio, and developer of serious games.

We’ll have hot coffee and catered breakfast for a morning rush, but seating is limited. So RSVP ASAP to be confirmed for attendance: once we reach our 30-person capacity there will be a waiting list.

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Other Upcoming Technology Salons

• April 16th in Brooklyn, NY: How is Big Data Supporting Tenant Rights?
• April 29th in Washington, DC: What Is the Future of ICT and Development in Cuba?