Tag Archives: game design

Join the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at the Games for Change 2025 Festival on Friday, June 27 for a workshop on creating games that promote children’s well-being. Hear how Fred Rogers Productions, Killer Snails, University of Oregon, Tiny Docs and Quest Craft are incorporating well-being by design into their games. Participants will then have a chance to ‘play’ with the ideas! Fri, Jun 27, 2025 11:00am – 12:30 pm Speakers include: Noelle Posadas Shang, Design Director, Killer Snails Michael Preston…

Andy Robertson draws back the curtain on his Ludocene Kickstarter project that hopes to change how children discover video games for the better.

In this episode of ‘Into the Digital Future,’ hosts Jordan Shapiro and Laura Higgins discuss the transformative power of gaming with Susanna Pollock, president of Games for Change. Pollock explains how games are being used beyond entertainment to address critical societal issues such as mental health and climate anxiety. The conversation highlights various initiatives, including partnerships with UNESCO, the World Food Programme, and the Deepak Chopra Foundation. The episode also delves into the Games for Change Student Challenge, empowering young…

In the last five years, there has been mounting public interest in the relationship between digital technology use and children’s wellbeing. New policies and legislation aimed at promoting children’s rights and/or safety online are being proposed across North America and around the world at an unprecedented rate. Despite their popularity among children of all ages, however, digital games are often left out of the conversation. As is children’s vast knowledge, insights, and willingness to discuss the positives and negatives that…

During the week of the 2024 Games for Change Festival, the Cooney Center had the privilege of helping to organize a series of events to bring the Responsible Innovation in Technology for Children Project (RITEC) learnings to life by sharing the backstory of the research process and work with children, and demonstrating how some have begun putting the RITEC-8 framework into practice. Celebrating the launch of the recent RITEC research report: Diving into working with children for children We started…

Please join us in Austin for SXSW 2024! March 10, 2024 2:30-3:30 pm | JW Marriott Salon 6 Can we create online spaces that foster positive behaviors and social experiences that teach users the skills they need to create strong and resilient connections that help them thrive? Video games and social media have been at the center of debates about mental health and a myriad of social issues, but not all digital experiences are created equal. We’ll talk about how…

Harmonizing Multiplayer Experiences Location: Room 209, South Hall Date: Monday, March 18 Time: 9:00 am – 12:00 pm Natasha Miller  (Senior Research Scientist II, Blizzard Entertainment) Kimberly Voll  (CEO, Brace Yourself Games) Weszt Hart  (Head of Player Dynamics, Riot Games) Michael Preston  (Executive Director, Joan Ganz Cooney Center, Sesame Workshop) Sarah Jacobstein  (Project Manager, Joan Ganz Cooney Center, Sesame Workshop) The Cooney Center is delighted to join the Fair Play Alliance at GDC this year to present a workshop as part of the Fair…

As digital games become ever more embedded in our daily lives, game designers and developers have the potential to create a positive impact through their work. This growing influence prompts us to consider a pivotal question: how can we navigate the ethics of digital game creation and be mindful of the impact that design choices have on players’ experiences, societal values, and most crucially, the well-being of the younger generation? Across a two-day conference that drew interest from over 600…

Is it possible to create digital media experiences that will help children—and adults— thrive? And what are the tools and resources that can help make these experiences a reality? In the past few years, we’ve heard warning bells about the potential harms and risks that children might encounter online. But there’s also a growing movement that acknowledges that while we work to minimize the dangers of the very real safety and data privacy issues that must be addressed, we should…

I started working at the Cooney Center out of college and grew to be the Research and Program Manager for the National STEM Video Game Challenge—a role that took me from Pittsburgh to the White House. As the Challenge grew, so did I. I was determined to understand how to guarantee positive outcomes from kids’ technology use. After lengthy conversations with my mentors at the Cooney Center, I pursued a dual PhD/MBA between Oxford and Yale focused on technology and…