Stronger With Games
The cultural power of gaming
For different gaming-related workshops funded by a larger programme aimed at culturally empowering kids and teens, posters communicate the intiative’s offer to a younger audience.
About the programme
The initiative “Stronger with Games” is part of a larger cultural funding programme helmed by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. This programme seeks to offer better opportunities to youths who grow up disadvantaged due to a socially challenging environment.
About the project
The Foundation Digital Gaming Culture teams up with local youth centers or other educational institutions to organize culturally empowering games-based cultural workshops for young people. They range from game-making barcamps to cosplay workshops.
Gryphonwood Gamescamp 2020
Rising to new creative heights
The GamesCamp 2020 was a summer camp in Greifenwald, a German city located on the coast of the Baltic Sea. Taking place online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, teens from all over Germany came together to play games – and, more importantly, to develop their own! Instructed by game industry professionals they learned important basics of design, storytelling and coding.
The game jam’s theme was “gods, creatures and spies”. The illustration shows a young hero riding on a gryphon – the event’s mascot, as the city’s name “Greifenwald” literally means “Gryphonwood” in German – conveying that the sky was the limit for the young developers’ creativity!
© Stiftung Digitale Spielekultur
© Stiftung Digitale Spielekultur
Kinderstadt Halle 2020
Building the cities of tomorrow
At the “Children’s City Halle” usually children from all over Germany assemble to live in their own urban microcosm. You heard that right: For a few weeks, this small, camp-like city is run by the children, for the children. That sure means work, but also a lot of fun!
They assume jobs like firefighter, cook or gardener and learn to take on the responsibilities that come with having to provide for the other citizens. Unfortunately, the Children’s City Halle could not take place in its usual form due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, a lot of events took place online instead of on the river island. For example, children were invited to build their very own vision of the ideal city in the digital space.
Spielerisch gegen Vorurteile
Playfully shifting perspectives
In our everyday life, it sometimes can be a real challenge to see events or circumstance through a lense other than our own. We grew up in a certain environment, usually become friends with people who are similar to us and like to believe that our perspective is the right one. So learning to understand the perspectives of other people is basically roleplay: What does the other person feel, why does she feel it? What are hear goals, her dreams, her fears?
Especially to adolescents, cosplay can mean so much more that just expressing admiration for their favorite game characters. It gives them a chance to try out new facets of their personality. The illustration focuses on this identity-playing aspect of cosplay.
© Stiftung Digitale Spielekultur