I was very intrigued when I first heard about the “Games for Change” effort that is taking shape in the United States. Games that don’t just entertain but educate and foster understanding and social change – I thought it was a fascinating idea. But when I sat in on the “Games for Change & Health Workshop: Brainstorming and Game Design Jam for HIV/AIDS” for Digital Capital Week, I was floored. The workshop, hosted by Spectrum, aimed to educate attendees on HIV/AIDS and “edu-gaming.” And, in doing so, supply them with the knowledge to conceptualize video games that could help a variety of audiences better understand HIV/AIDS in Washington, D.C. and around the world. You can watch the live stream of the event in our DC Week video archives.
Two of our panel speakers – David Phillips, an information governance contractor at The National Institutes of Health, and Justin Goforth, RN, Director of Medical Adherence Unit and STD Services, Whitman Walker Clinic – were extremely educated on the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Before delving into the gaming aspect, they introduced the hard hitting facts of the virus. After all, we need to know the subject matter before we could brainstorm about the game.
The workshop participants, including gaming programmers, medical software developers, healthcare bloggers, local college students and HIV experts, tuned into the panel discussion and learned how HIV/AIDS affects Washington, D.C., in particular. I had always heard that D.C. was highly affected, but these statistics really solidified that notion: Eighty-one percent of people infected are African American, 13 percent are White, 5 percent are Latino and 1 percent is of another ethnicity. 
As an African American myself, these statistics really alarmed me. Goforth explained that the disparities in healthcare, salaries and education are the reasons why African Americans are so heavily affected.
But what surprised me even more was when Goforth and Phillips began explaining that if an individual takes the proper medication, their viral load can be undetectable, making it nearly impossible to transmit the virus to another person. When I heard this, I immediately asked them, “What is the problem then? Why don’t people take their medication to keep this virus from spreading?” And the answer made sense. THE STIGMA. Goforth explained that if a person begins taking medication, that would be admitting to themselves that they are in fact infected. So to avoid being associated with the disease, some individuals chose not to take appropriate medication.
So, how can we put all this knowledge into a video game that will increase consciousness and develop social change? That was the goal for the remaining time. Read about the second half of the games for health workshop here.
Stay tuned for Part II in which we’ll discuss the ideas the group proposed for the video game.
Tags: AIDS, Digital Capital Week, Edugaming, Gaming, HIV, Video Games
Thanks for your very informative post. Awaiting part II. Would like to discuss if possible.
Hi Marilyn,
I’m so glad you found my post informative. Part II has just been posted. I encourage you to read it. I would be delighted to discuss this in more detail. Please contact me at: theaven@spectrumscience.com