Mind Candy

Some Mind Candies went along to the Game Based Learning Conference 2009 unfortunately we were only able to get tickets for the Friday so missed the Pecha Kucha and socialising, but we were there for the whole of Friday for all the great speeches.

Almost every speaker mentioned the travesty of the recent Department of Heath’s Change4Life campaign depicting a listless looking child holding a Playstation controller with the provocative slogan ‘Risk an Early Death’. It was up to Tom Watson to convince the industry that the government wasn’t completely against us. Luckily he made it clear he realises the importance of the games industry to the success of the country in terms of economy as well as education but, like any good politician, successfully dodged a question about tax breaks.

Of most interest to us here at Mind Candy was Derek Robertson who focused on a teacher using Moshi Monsters in the classroom. It’s useful for us to see how teachers are making use of Moshi and it would be great to start a proper conversation with educators about what we can do to make Moshi more friendly for teachers to use as a resource.

For me the overarching message from the conference was that gaming in all forms is hugely educational; it beats traditional education methods because kids actually enjoy learning when they are playing games, but there is still a long way to go before it is seen as legitimate by the mainstream.

I’m really interested to see where this conversation goes and looking forward to installing my children into Nolan Bushnell’s ‘Podules’. Check out all the videos here

Yesterday evening several Mind Candies attended the 2008 BAFTA Children’s Awards, representing Moshi Monsters for its nomination in the Interactive category.

Hosted by Keith Chegwin and held at the Hilton Park Lane, the ceremony was a huge success, with celebrities including Dannii Minogue, Geri Halliwell, Gemma Arteton and The Chuckle Brothers all making an appearance.

Although sadly we were beaten to the BAFTA by Channel 4’s excellent Bow Street Runner, the judges described Moshi Monsters as “energetic, charming and polished”, which we’re thrilled about and we hope to be back next year for another chance.

I will be representing Mind Candy at this year’s Women In Games Conference (being held between the 10th and 12th September at the University of Warwick, near Coventry) by hosting a panel called “Getting Down With The Kids”. My panel will explore the link between the growth of social gaming in the youth sector and greater opportunities for women in the games industry. I have enlisted three panelists; Rachel Bardill – Interactive Executive for CBBC and one of the brains behind Adventure Rock, Louise Ridgeway – long standing supervising animator at games development company Rare Ltd, and Toby Barnes – MD of Pixel Lab, a consultancy and production company to the video-game and digital content industries. The details of the conference can be found at the WIG conference website at http://www.womeningames.com.

In addition, both myself and our Community Director, Rebecca Newton have put forward panels for SXSW 2009. These panels can be viewed, and more importantly voted for, at the SXSW interactive panel picker at the links below. Help us out by checking out our panels and giving them a vote!

Playing To Learn – Educating Kids Through Gaming, Divinia Knowles
http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/1335

Everything in Moderation, Socializing in Excess, Rebecca Newton
http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/838

Last night was the MOO Summer Street Party, a night of free beer and wine, great food and as much MOO stuff as you could lay your hands on!

A lot of Mind Candies went to the event, held at the Vibe Bar on Brick Lane, where we met a whole range of people with similar interests.

With great weather, and a great turn out, the party was a big success and we all hope MOO will continue what is now becoming a tradition next year.