Tackling Social Engineering Through Play (‘The Boston Globe’)

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The Boston Globe features the work of Professor Mary Flanagan and her Tiltfactor Laboratory, which, the newspaper explains, creates “‘research-driven games for social impact.’ That means employing psychology and education research to create games that have a measurable impact on players’ attitudes toward topics like gender, race, and health.”

When asked about the process of creating games that promote social change, Flanagan says, “It turns out that people actually see play as a very liberating and open experience, and we have to be able to choose to do that. So what we try to do is really bring a sense of professionalism and playfulness that people choose to play. These games have to be good games first.”

Flanagan is a professor of film and media studies and the Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Professor in Digital Humanities.

Read the full story, published 5/31/15 by The Boston Globe.

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