It all started with a realization. I play games instead of learning for university! I shouldn’t be doing this… wait, what… And this brought up a question… Why are games so good at what they do, while education often struggles with bringing its learners to their destination?
A little later or rather a few years, looking for sources and products to find out more about and apply Game-Based Learning and the use of Games in education and communication, it became clear that there was actually a need for an institution or a company that would bring together, what should be the most promising combination for learning in the 21st century. Games used for learning, for training, and for communication couldn’t be applied easily because there was a need for everything, the knowledge, and training for educators and facilitators, the contextualization of games in these ‘new environments’ as well as the products to enable people to work with games in these settings.
So, we started out on this exciting journey. There was a need for translating the languages used on both sides to make games culture and education or rather society, in general, understand each other properly. People needed to be told over and over again, why games are good and why they matter for us as a society. In projects, seminars and talks about Game Based Learning, games and their culture and their benefit and potential for learning and communication needed to be demonstrated and explained. Don’t take me wrong, a lot of people took part in this huge undertaking and we were probably hardly recognizable as a distinct voice, but Three years later, today we seem to have reached a watershed point. The interest for games, games culture and the games industry is constantly on a rise, games and their designers are taken seriously and society as a whole acknowledges the value of this new and successful medium. This opens up a diverse range of possible applications for games outside sheer entertainment.
There are plenty of organizations, institutions, and companies working in this field all over the world or at least being interested in doing so. The Games Institute Austria sees its core competence in being facilitator and consultant for people who want to bring the power of play and games into their products or institutions. We help to bring games to new contexts, not only by demonstrating how but also by developing content and products to create a toolset for those who want to use games and a playful mindset in their work. So, there is actually a lot we have to offer. We make tools more playful, we teach you how to use play and games and we create products to embed games and play into teaching and communication.
Don’t hesitate to look around, there will be something interesting for everyone. You can buy our products, book a seminar or read and listen to what we have to say. Whatever it is, feel free to play with the opportunities. To stay updated, follow us on Social Media, read our latest articles or just contact us. Are you ready to play?
