Greetings from Katie Salen
„As a designer of games and play-inspired systems I have witnessed an incredible transformation in the way the products and practices of my chosen field have been defined, researched, designed, debated, deployed, and valued over nearly 20 years of practice. In 1996, when I got involved in researching the machinima scene, videogames sported a reputation as the food of choice for basement dwelling boys obsessed with their computers. Government officials tended to equate games with the devil or heavy metal and remained blind to their creative potential.
Oh, how things have changed. Happily, games no longer sit at the margins of academic research, have moved into a starring role in the debates surrounding the future of learning, and contribute daily to innovations in the business, entertainment, creative arts, education, and technology sectors. And what better places to see, reflect upon, and debate these innovations than at a conference like Play 14? The conference is perfectly poised to fuel games’ transformative trend. So get in the game. It’s easy—all you have to do is engage.“
Katie Salen Tekinba is the founding Executive Director of Institute of Play, Professor of Games and Digital Media at DePaul University, and once co-designed a karaoke ice cream truck driven by a squirrel.