The Media Effects and Technology Lab and the Department of Journalism at CJC sponsored a guest Lecture by Mario Lapin titled “Ludoactivism: Scalable Impact in the Era of Play” on Tuesday, March 21 2017 in the College of Journalism and Communications.

Ludoactivism (‘ludic’: related to games and play, from Latin ludus) refers to playful ways to create positive social, civic, environmental and health changes in the real world. This talk critically analyzes the universe of ludoactivism, presenting diverse examples to cover reasons and means by which games can be used to involve people in—and for—real-world impact.
What are the results so far? What R.O.I. can be expected? By enabling impactful interactive experiences to broad audiences, ludoactivists may be on the path to establish an effective and scalable form to raise awareness and foster engagement on some of the most pressing issues in the world. The talk was recorded on March 21, 2017.

Bio: Mario Lapin is a ludoactivist, game designer and Founder/CEO at Virgo Game Studios (Sao Paolo, Brazil), a game development studio dedicated to ludoactivism (‘playful activism’) and playful learning. Mario leads the company to create impactful games, with the goal to promote positive behavior changes. His portfolio mixes art, playfulness and evidence-driven, human-centered design, into cool games, with more than 30 titles published in collaboration with local and global foundations, governments and socially-aware companies. A collection of 3 games developed with Sesame Street was nominated to the 2014 International Digital Emmy® Awards. In 2015 Virgo expanded to the Centre For Social Innovation in NYC, establishing the first multinational game studio dedicated to ludoactivism. Mario is also the Executive Producer at Games For Change LatAm, VP at Abragames (Brazilian Game Developer’s Association) and Curator at BIG Impact (the largest festival in Latin America on the field).

Posted: March 23, 2017
Category: Guest Lecture