On Sunday, December 12, 2021, Jennifer Ann’s Group (JAG)’s Drew Crescente moderated the “Gaming Against Violence: Unplugged” panel at PAX Unplugged on the potential for analog games to communicate signs of and concerns for Power & Control in romantic relationships.
#LifeLovePAX
The judges for JAG’s 2021 Unplugged game design challenge made up the panel speakers: Drew Crecente (he/him/his) [Executive Director, Jennifer Ann’s Group], Dr. Mark Chen (he/him) [Lecturer, University of Washington Bothell], Hannah Corcoran (she/her) [Producer, Auroch Digital], Dr. Krista-Lee Malone (she/her) [Teaching Faculty II (Dr.), UW-Madison], Dr. Elizabeth Levato Richeson (she/her) [Clinical Psychologist / Jennifer Ann’s Group – Advisory Board Chair, Dr. Elizabeth L. Richeson], Dr. Sarah Stang (she/her) [Dr., York University].
Hear from the esteemed judges in the video below as they reflect on non-digital prosocial games as a powerful tool to engage young people in difficult topics like dating violence.
And the winner is….
Matters at Play was featured near the end of the session as one of seven selected #Unplugged finalist with our game The Big Build Up.
At the culmination of the panel, the game design challenge website was updated to announce the winner: Matters at Play with The Big Build Up! We are excited for this recognition and to hear the judges feedback. We also look forward to further developing the game resources for education use with our primary audience of youth ages 13-16.