0:00:15.774,0:00:17.688 I want to talk about games for a change. 0:00:17.713,0:00:20.159 When we think of games,[br]there's all kinds of things. 0:00:20.183,0:00:23.568 Maybe you're ticked off, or maybe,[br]you're looking forward to a new game. 0:00:23.592,0:00:25.450 You've been up too late playing a game. 0:00:25.474,0:00:26.937 All these things happen to me. 0:00:26.961,0:00:28.396 But when we think about games, 0:00:28.420,0:00:30.590 a lot of times we think[br]about stuff like this: 0:00:30.614,0:00:33.645 first-person shooters, or the big,[br]what we would call AAA games, 0:00:33.669,0:00:35.543 or maybe you're a Facebook game player. 0:00:35.567,0:00:37.442 This is one my partner and I worked on. 0:00:37.466,0:00:40.769 Maybe you play Facebook games,[br]and that's what we're making right now. 0:00:40.793,0:00:42.295 This is a lighter form of game. 0:00:42.319,0:00:44.922 Maybe you think about[br]the tragically boring board games 0:00:44.946,0:00:47.188 that hold us hostage[br]in Thanksgiving situations. 0:00:47.212,0:00:50.951 This would be one of the tragically boring[br]board games that you can figure out. 0:00:50.975,0:00:52.740 Or maybe you're in your living room, 0:00:52.764,0:00:54.621 playing with the Wii with the kids, 0:00:54.645,0:00:58.379 and there's this whole range of games,[br]and that's very much what I think about. 0:00:58.403,0:01:01.344 I make my living from games,[br]I've been lucky enough to do this 0:01:01.368,0:01:04.805 since I was 15, which also qualifies[br]as I've never really had a real job. 0:01:05.328,0:01:09.207 But we think about games as fun,[br]and that's completely reasonable, 0:01:09.231,0:01:10.845 but let's just think about this. 0:01:10.869,0:01:13.181 So this one here,[br]this is the 1980 Olympics. 0:01:13.199,0:01:15.024 Now I don't know where you guys were, 0:01:15.048,0:01:16.423 but I was in my living room. 0:01:16.447,0:01:18.249 It was practically a religious event. 0:01:18.273,0:01:20.860 And this is when the Americans[br]beat the Russians, 0:01:20.884,0:01:23.123 and this was...[br]Yes, it was technically a game. 0:01:23.147,0:01:24.474 Hockey is a game. 0:01:24.498,0:01:26.244 But really, was this a game? 0:01:26.268,0:01:28.007 I mean, people cried. 0:01:28.031,0:01:31.372 I've never seen my mother cry[br]like that at the end of Monopoly. 0:01:31.396,0:01:32.538 (Laughter) 0:01:32.562,0:01:34.914 And so this was an amazing experience. 0:01:34.938,0:01:37.448 Or, if anybody here is from Boston... 0:01:37.472,0:01:40.525 So when the Boston Red Sox[br]won the World Series 0:01:40.549,0:01:43.456 after I believe, 351 years... 0:01:43.480,0:01:44.757 (Laughter) 0:01:44.781,0:01:47.040 when they won the World Series,[br]it was amazing. 0:01:47.064,0:01:49.462 I happened to be living[br]in Springfield at the time, 0:01:49.486,0:01:51.481 and the best part of it was, 0:01:51.505,0:01:54.118 you would close the women's door[br]in the bathroom, 0:01:54.142,0:01:57.033 and I remember seeing "Go Sox,"[br]and I thought, really? 0:01:57.557,0:02:00.606 Or the houses, you'd come out,[br]because every game, 0:02:00.630,0:02:03.414 well, I think almost every game,[br]went into overtime, right? 0:02:03.438,0:02:06.787 So we'd be outside, and all the other[br]lights are on in the whole block. 0:02:06.811,0:02:09.871 And kids... the attendance[br]was down in school, 0:02:09.895,0:02:13.043 kids weren't going to school,[br]but it's OK, it's the Red Sox, right? 0:02:13.067,0:02:15.714 I mean, there's education,[br]and then there's the Red Sox, 0:02:15.738,0:02:17.503 and we know where they're stacked. 0:02:17.527,0:02:19.348 So this was an amazing experience, 0:02:19.372,0:02:22.861 and again, yes, it was a game,[br]but they didn't write newspaper articles, 0:02:22.885,0:02:27.204 people didn't say, "You know, really,[br]I can die now, because the Red Sox won." 0:02:27.228,0:02:28.678 And many people did. 0:02:28.702,0:02:31.647 So games, it means something more to us. 0:02:31.671,0:02:33.540 It absolutely means something more. 0:02:33.564,0:02:35.813 So now, this is an abrupt transition here. 0:02:35.837,0:02:39.139 There was three years where[br]I actually did have a real job, sort of. 0:02:39.163,0:02:41.719 I was the head of a college[br]department teaching games, 0:02:41.743,0:02:43.518 so, again, it was sort of a real job, 0:02:43.542,0:02:47.179 and now I got to talk about making them[br]as opposed to making them. 0:02:47.203,0:02:50.475 Part of the job of it,[br]when you're a chair of a department, 0:02:50.499,0:02:52.309 is to eat, and I did that very well... 0:02:52.333,0:02:55.174 And so I'm out at a dinner[br]with this guy called Zig Jackson. 0:02:55.198,0:02:58.752 So this is Zig in this photograph,[br]this is also one of Zig's photographs. 0:02:58.776,0:02:59.937 He's a photographer. 0:02:59.961,0:03:05.003 And he goes all around the country[br]taking pictures of himself, 0:03:05.027,0:03:08.149 and you can see here he's got[br]Zig's Indian Reservation. 0:03:08.226,0:03:09.746 And this particular shot... 0:03:10.770,0:03:12.910 This is one of the more traditional shots. 0:03:12.919,0:03:14.582 This is a rain dancer. 0:03:14.606,0:03:16.704 And this is one of my favorite shots here. 0:03:16.728,0:03:19.983 So you can look at this, and maybe[br]you've even seen things like this. 0:03:20.007,0:03:21.931 This is an expression of culture, right? 0:03:21.955,0:03:24.500 And this is actually[br]from his Degradation series. 0:03:24.524,0:03:27.003 And what was most fascinating[br]to me about this series 0:03:27.027,0:03:29.659 is just, look at that little boy there,[br]can you imagine? 0:03:29.683,0:03:31.934 We can see that's[br]a traditional Native American. 0:03:31.958,0:03:33.996 Now I just want to change that guy's race. 0:03:34.020,0:03:35.917 Just imagine if that's a black guy. 0:03:35.941,0:03:39.421 So, "Honey, come here, let's get you[br]a picture with the black guy." Right? 0:03:39.445,0:03:41.255 Like, seriously, nobody would do this. 0:03:41.279,0:03:42.664 It baffles the mind. 0:03:42.688,0:03:45.569 And so Zig, being Indian,[br]likewise it baffles his mind. 0:03:45.593,0:03:46.839 His favorite photograph... 0:03:46.863,0:03:49.741 My favorite photograph of his,[br]which I don't have in here... 0:03:49.765,0:03:53.004 Is Indian taking picture of white people[br]taking pictures of Indians. 0:03:53.028,0:03:54.538 (Laughter) 0:03:54.562,0:03:56.957 So I happen to be at dinner[br]with this photographer, 0:03:56.981,0:03:59.032 and he was talking[br]with another photographer 0:03:59.056,0:04:00.745 about a shooting that had occurred, 0:04:00.769,0:04:02.489 and it was on an Indian Reservation. 0:04:02.513,0:04:04.769 He'd taken his camera up there[br]to photograph it, 0:04:04.793,0:04:07.373 but when he got there,[br]he discovered he couldn't do it. 0:04:07.397,0:04:09.179 He just couldn't capture the picture. 0:04:09.203,0:04:12.098 And so they were talking back and forth[br]about this question. 0:04:12.122,0:04:14.040 Do you take the picture or not? 0:04:14.064,0:04:16.445 And that was fascinating[br]to me as a game designer, 0:04:16.469,0:04:17.899 because it never occurs to me, 0:04:17.923,0:04:21.072 should I make the game[br]about this difficult topic or not? 0:04:21.096,0:04:23.010 Because we just make things that are fun 0:04:23.034,0:04:26.515 or will make you feel fear,[br]that visceral excitement. 0:04:26.539,0:04:28.496 But every other medium does it. 0:04:28.520,0:04:29.689 So this is my kid. 0:04:29.713,0:04:32.386 This is Maezza, and when she was[br]seven years old, 0:04:32.410,0:04:34.050 she came home from school one day, 0:04:34.074,0:04:37.328 and like I do every single day,[br]I asked her, "What did you do today?" 0:04:37.352,0:04:39.698 So she said, "We talked[br]about the Middle Passage." 0:04:39.722,0:04:42.076 Now, this was a big moment.[br]Maezza's dad is black, 0:04:42.100,0:04:44.699 and I knew this day was coming. 0:04:44.723,0:04:47.839 I wasn't expecting it at seven,[br]I don't know why, but I wasn't. 0:04:47.863,0:04:51.216 Anyways, so I asked her,[br]"How do you feel about that?" 0:04:51.240,0:04:52.797 So she proceeded to tell me, 0:04:52.821,0:04:56.330 and so any of you who are parents[br]will recognize the bingo buzzwords here. 0:04:56.354,0:04:59.027 "The ships start in England,[br]they come down from England, 0:04:59.051,0:05:01.241 they go to Africa,[br]they go across the ocean... 0:05:01.265,0:05:02.910 That's the Middle Passage part... 0:05:02.934,0:05:06.133 They come to America, where[br]the slaves are sold," she's telling me. 0:05:06.157,0:05:08.165 But Abraham Lincoln was elected president, 0:05:08.189,0:05:10.480 and then he passed[br]the Emancipation Proclamation, 0:05:10.504,0:05:11.671 and now they're free. 0:05:11.695,0:05:12.999 Pause for about 10 seconds. 0:05:13.023,0:05:14.337 "Can I play a game, Mommy?" 0:05:14.361,0:05:18.048 And I thought, that's it?[br]And so, you know, 0:05:18.773,0:05:22.830 this is the Middle Passage,[br]this is an incredibly significant event, 0:05:22.885,0:05:26.800 and she's treating it like, basically[br]some black people went on a cruise, 0:05:26.824,0:05:28.832 this is more or less how it sounds to her. 0:05:28.856,0:05:30.013 (Laughter) 0:05:30.037,0:05:32.903 And so, to me,[br]I wanted more value in this, 0:05:32.927,0:05:36.107 so when she asked[br]if she could play a game, I said, "Yes." 0:05:36.131,0:05:37.316 (Laughter) 0:05:37.340,0:05:39.821 And so I happened to have[br]all of these little pieces. 0:05:39.845,0:05:42.944 I'm a game designer, so I have[br]this stuff sitting around my house. 0:05:42.968,0:05:46.221 I said, "Yeah, you can play a game,"[br]and I give her a bunch of these, 0:05:46.245,0:05:48.655 and I tell her to paint them[br]in different families. 0:05:48.679,0:05:50.766 These are pictures of Maezza[br]when she was... 0:05:50.790,0:05:52.732 God, it still chokes me up seeing these. 0:05:52.756,0:05:54.581 So she's painting her little families. 0:05:54.605,0:05:57.241 So then I grab a bunch of them[br]and I put them on a boat. 0:05:57.266,0:05:59.675 This was the boat,[br]it was made quickly, obviously. 0:05:59.676,0:06:02.617 And so the basic gist of it is,[br]I grabbed a bunch of families, 0:06:02.641,0:06:05.077 and she's like, "Mommy,[br]but you forgot the pink baby 0:06:05.101,0:06:06.519 and you forgot the blue daddy 0:06:06.543,0:06:08.415 and you forgot all these other things." 0:06:08.439,0:06:09.977 And she says, "They want to go." 0:06:10.001,0:06:12.217 And I said, "Honey,[br]no, they don't want to go. 0:06:12.241,0:06:15.546 This is the Middle Passage, Nobody wants[br]to go on the Middle Passage." 0:06:15.570,0:06:19.452 So she gave me a look that only a daughter[br]of a game designer would give a mother, 0:06:19.476,0:06:22.248 and as we're going across the ocean,[br]following these rules, 0:06:22.272,0:06:24.331 she realizes that she's rolling[br]pretty high, 0:06:24.355,0:06:26.644 and she says to me,[br]"We're not going to make it." 0:06:26.668,0:06:28.785 And she realizes,[br]we don't have enough food, 0:06:28.809,0:06:30.126 and so she asks what to do, 0:06:30.150,0:06:32.880 and I say... remember, she's seven... 0:06:32.904,0:06:34.940 "We can either put[br]some people in the water 0:06:34.964,0:06:36.835 or we can hope that they don't get sick 0:06:36.859,0:06:38.481 and we make it to the other side." 0:06:39.505,0:06:42.076 Just the look on her face came over... 0:06:42.100,0:06:44.029 Now mind you this is after a month of... 0:06:44.051,0:06:45.730 This is Black History Month, right? 0:06:45.754,0:06:48.894 After a month, she says to me,[br]"Did this really happen?" 0:06:49.200,0:06:51.986 And I said, "Yes." And so she said... 0:06:52.510,0:06:54.157 This is her brother and sister... 0:06:54.181,0:06:57.158 "If I came out of the woods,[br]Avalon and Donovan might be gone." 0:06:57.183,0:06:58.350 "Yes." 0:06:58.374,0:07:00.182 "But I'd get to see them in America." 0:07:00.206,0:07:01.357 "No." 0:07:01.381,0:07:03.910 "But what if I saw them?[br]Couldn't we stay together?" 0:07:03.934,0:07:05.185 "So Daddy could be gone." 0:07:05.209,0:07:06.367 "Yes." 0:07:06.391,0:07:08.828 She was fascinated by this,[br]and she started to cry, 0:07:08.852,0:07:12.251 I started to cry, her father started[br]to cry, and now we're all crying. 0:07:12.275,0:07:16.148 He didn't expect to come home from work[br]to the Middle Passage, but there it goes. 0:07:16.172,0:07:18.265 And so, we made this game, and she got it. 0:07:18.289,0:07:20.845 She got it because she spent time[br]with these people. 0:07:20.869,0:07:24.114 It wasn't abstract stuff[br]in a brochure or in a movie. 0:07:24.638,0:07:27.706 And so it was just an incredibly[br]powerful experience. 0:07:27.730,0:07:30.710 This is the game, which I've ended up[br]calling "The New World," 0:07:30.734,0:07:32.016 because I like the phrase. 0:07:32.040,0:07:34.824 I don't think the New World[br]felt too new worldly exciting 0:07:34.848,0:07:37.279 to the people who were[br]brought over on slave ships. 0:07:37.303,0:07:40.389 But when this happened,[br]I saw the whole planet; I was so excited. 0:07:40.413,0:07:42.799 I'd been making games for 20-some years, 0:07:42.823,0:07:44.822 and then I decided to do it again. 0:07:44.846,0:07:46.262 My history is Irish. 0:07:46.286,0:07:49.418 So this is a game called "Síochán Leat."[br]It's "peace be with you." 0:07:49.442,0:07:51.973 It's the entire history[br]of my family in a single game. 0:07:51.997,0:07:54.496 I made another game called "Train." 0:07:54.520,0:07:57.575 I was making a series of six games[br]that covered difficult topics, 0:07:57.599,0:08:01.309 and if you're going to cover a difficult[br]topic, this is one you need to cover, 0:08:01.333,0:08:04.061 and I'll let you figure out[br]what that's about on your own. 0:08:04.085,0:08:06.938 And I also made a game[br]about the Trail of Tears. 0:08:06.962,0:08:09.416 This is a game[br]with 50,000 individual pieces. 0:08:09.440,0:08:12.824 I was crazy when I decided to start it,[br]but I'm in the middle of it now. 0:08:12.848,0:08:14.075 It's the same thing. 0:08:14.099,0:08:17.026 I'm hoping that I'll teach[br]culture through these games. 0:08:17.050,0:08:19.352 And the one I'm working[br]on right now, which is... 0:08:19.376,0:08:21.202 Because I'm right in the middle of it, 0:08:21.226,0:08:23.692 and these for some reason[br]choke me up like crazy... 0:08:23.716,0:08:25.771 Is a game called[br]"Mexican Kitchen Workers." 0:08:25.795,0:08:28.240 And originally, it was[br]a math problem, more or less. 0:08:28.264,0:08:30.331 Here's the economics[br]of illegal immigration. 0:08:30.355,0:08:32.556 And the more I learned[br]about Mexican culture... 0:08:32.580,0:08:34.850 My partner is Mexican —[br]The more I learned that, 0:08:34.874,0:08:37.203 you know, for all of us,[br]food is a basic need, 0:08:37.227,0:08:40.534 and it is obviously with Mexicans, too,[br]but it's much more than that. 0:08:40.558,0:08:42.988 It's an expression of love.[br]It's an expression of... 0:08:43.011,0:08:45.462 God, I'm totally choking up[br]way more than I thought. 0:08:45.486,0:08:47.358 I'll look away from the picture. 0:08:47.382,0:08:50.678 It's an expression of beauty,[br]it's how they say they love you. 0:08:50.702,0:08:52.054 It's how they say they care, 0:08:52.078,0:08:55.106 and you can't hear somebody[br]talk about their Mexican grandmother 0:08:55.130,0:08:57.003 without saying "food"[br]in the first sentence. 0:08:57.087,0:08:59.243 And so to me, this beautiful culture, 0:08:59.267,0:09:03.587 this beautiful expression is something[br]that I want to capture through games. 0:09:03.611,0:09:07.112 And so games, for a change,[br]it changes how we see topics, 0:09:07.136,0:09:10.648 it changes our perceptions[br]about those people in topics, 0:09:10.672,0:09:12.394 and it changes ourselves. 0:09:12.418,0:09:14.607 We change as people through games, 0:09:14.631,0:09:16.667 because we're involved, and we're playing, 0:09:16.691,0:09:18.180 and we're learning as we do so. 0:09:18.204,0:09:19.402 Thank you.