In pop culture, many know avatars as the giant blue beings from Pandora, or as Aang the young (112-year-old) boy frozen in ice who must master the four elements. But avatars have existed long before these stories were created. In fact, many millenniums ago.&nbsp;The word "avatar" comes from Sanskrit and translates to the embodiment of a powerful being or god in a different form. In Hindu tales, the best-known avatar is Vishnu, who takes human form to restore righteousness.&nbsp;Some people translate "avatar" as "incarnation"—this theme appears in the animated TV series Avatar: The Last Airbender—but they're different. "Incarnation" suggests being born in flesh, but the term "avatar" suggests a mythical form. In Hinduism, avatars represent spiritual perfection and noble goals.But since its Hindu origins, the term avatar has expanded and grown in its interpretations, taking various forms in popular culture. During the development of digital chat forums, they became a name for the icons we create online to identify ourselves. Very much like Hindu interpretations, taking a mythical form, albeit just for the earthly purpose of chats.&nbsp;But it did catch on.Soon after, it popped up in games. Avatars allowed us to transform as deities were once said to have— this time in an online world. In gaming, avatars now commonly refer to the characters we put ourselves into. The British online game pioneer Richard Bartle has been researching the topic since the mid-1980s and points out the following: “Many people who write about avatars actually mean characters, but they don't understand the difference. Avatars are puppets, characters are simulacra. However, neither avatars nor characters are people. They still have something to do with the absorptive power of online worlds. There is a level of immersion that goes even deeper than the character: the role.”Playing as avatars offers a unique form of freedom for children, allowing them to explore identities and worlds without the constraints of the physical realm. This playful immersion can foster creativity, enhance problem-solving skills, and boost confidence as they navigate through various scenarios and interact with others globally. It’s not just about entertainment; it’s about expanding horizons and understanding diversity in a safe, controlled environment, enabling kids to learn and grow in ways that were unimaginable just a generation ago. Encourage your child to embrace this digital playground with open-minded curiosity.In the World of Us game, players’ Avatars can roam and explore, take up an identity, and a new style and if they feel like they may just don a new personality. The idea is to play, right?&nbsp;

Some know them only as James Cameron’s large alien creatures but avatars have an origin all of their own—and it may surprise you. 

Avatars: A Short History

Known by many things—“in the zone”, or “locked in”— it’s a feeling often sought after but not fully understood.&nbsp;You may have experienced it yourself—out on a run where you feel unstoppable or even cleaning the house—a feeling where everything just seems to work and make sense. This magical feeling is more commonly known as&nbsp;flow state.&nbsp;Flow State has a host of cool features to unlock such as: time seeming to pass quickly, and individuals experiencing a sense of effortless control and deep enjoyment. Getting into the flow of things is a mental state of complete absorption and focus in an activity. It was first described by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in his seminal work&nbsp;<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/66354">"Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience."</a> Just like in sports, art, and music creation, achieving flow in gaming involves a deep sense of concentration, enjoyment, and a feeling of being "in the zone." In young kids, flow state might look like an afternoon spent putting together a puzzle. Celebrating the wins of matching pieces is much like the flow state that can be found through digital gaming.&nbsp;For kids, one of the most rewarding parts of gaming can be the achievements games unlock along the way—whether that’s medals, trophies or tools to play on. The strategic thinking applied when gaming combined with these frequent rewards is a great way to get flow state started. Not only that, but the problem solving in games is often transferable to everyday living and helps to get kids thinking about larger issues in smaller, more digestible chunks and may also encourage decision-making surrounding others and public spaces that could impact the environment the digital world provides.&nbsp;We’ve learned a few steps that can go into finding flow in gaming. The player needs to find the level or play just challenging enough that it seems completable without the disheartening frustration from taking on a task that’s too hard. The feeling that you’re looking for is a sense of “optimal challenge.” Receiving small rewards or indication you’re getting closer to a larger goal will drive players to focus deeper on the little wins and trigger a bunch of sensors to tell you now is the time to focus more than ever. By mentally structuring tasks one at a time the success rate is higher and therefore the flow can take over.&nbsp;For parents, the world of gaming still might feel too all-consuming. There are a couple of tips we have for tackling this concern. Firstly, join in! Playing games might not be your idea of quality time, but they’re a great way to bond with your kids and to check first-hand that the game promotes healthy topics for young minds. You might find some flow of your own! Secondly, when group gaming isn’t possible try to encourage time limits or breaks in play. They don’t have to be too rigid but should mark times to switch off and get back to like IRL. And finally, and probably the most simple option, ask questions. Kids want to tell you about their achievements and gaming is no exception. The more you show an active interest in their online play the more you’ll know where the limits are.World of Us is currently being designed to optimise flow—and enjoyment—so that players can lock in on building skills that help to protect and educate young people about the world we live in today. The game, which brings in tales from around the globe, has creative, collaborative, and strategic challenges that are tailored to young developing minds. This means the challenges they set to solve are creating that ‘optimum challenge’ and unlocking more opportunities for flow as play continues. As guardians we want you to play along, too. This world may be for kids but there’s so much guardians can learn from. We’re creating resources that can help you start crucial conversations. Topics, such as culture, mythology, history, nature, won’t just help your children learn but may just open new worlds for you, too.

Flow states, often seen as mythic, truly exist and can make gaming twice as fun.

How Can Young Gamers Find Their Flow?

Technology is changing everything. Over the past two decades, we have seen a monumental change in the ways in which we communicate, work, play and learn. As we progress into the digital age, an understanding of and connection to technology is becoming mandatory."Technology needs to be incorporated in the future of education to ensure students are equipped with the skills to cope in a world dependent on technology.”The factory-inspired, 19th century model of education was focused on packaging, or ‘bundling’ as many forms of learning into applicable skills as possible. This method functioned while the availability of teaching resources was and has remained extremely limited since its inception. We now move into a new era of ‘unbundling’, as expressed by CMO of 5ire, Utkarsh Amitabh in an article for World Economic Forum. This “great unbundling” will manifest with courses offering specific training in focused skills such as “soft skills, core skills, critical thinking or an opportunity to network” where we previously saw students offered access to all four.Initial developments already at play take the form of online courses, ‘open’ universities and fast-track bootcamps in areas such as digital design and coding. The COVID-19 pandemic also saw a globalisation of communication tools such as Zoom and Google Meets, previously confined to high-powered office environments. These platforms revolutionised the education sector, ensuring that students from primary age until post graduate would have access to the classes, courses, lectures and seminars wherever they were in relation to their school or university.&nbsp;As we witness new course structures and intensive learning processes develop into the mainstream, the motivation is to engage students as quickly as possible, and for the shortest amount of time. In 2019, the Guardian reported that “the information age has changed the general attention span”, with reports in 2021 indicating that the average adult attention span was just 47 seconds (and decreasing). This is largely due to the influx of apps such as Twitter, Instagram and TikTok taking over our previously highly-accessed online channels such as YouTube (longer form videos), online magazines and newspapers and communication channels. Educators and employers are taking this into consideration at the advent of the new technological education age, but we have to consider what could be done to increase progression into a digital future while replenishing consciousness and real-time focus.“Seeing a drawing of an atom printed on a page and being inside an atom are very different experiences.”The future of education lies in visualisation through the use of immersive technologies. These tools, such as augmented and virtual reality, enable students and teachers to go beyond the existing classroom structures currently accessible in the physical world and online spaces such as Zoom.&nbsp;Augmented reality has been expanding reach globally for over ten years, with an estimated 2.4 billion users worldwide by the end of 2023. This is a particularly exciting tool for the education sector, as AR combines 25% digital reality with 75% existing reality, meaning that educators have a greater possibility to control and manipulate the information presented to their students. In this way, “classroom education can be extraordinary and more interactive, as AR can enable teachers to show virtual examples of concepts and add gaming elements to provide textbook material support.” In a world where younger people are becoming more and more accustomed to life in the virtual world (oftentimes ahead of the real world), augmented reality presents an opportunity to learn in real-time while expanding on the potential of the digital space. The gamification of AR also lends itself well to the new models of ‘learning from home’ now offered by most schools, courses and universities. This learning tool serves to engage students for longer periods of time while saving money on expensive training programmes and equipment.Virtual reality experiences have been gaining popularity in the education sector as more accessible forms of the technology and less prohibitive costs become available. Students are offered opportunities to ‘travel’, connect and communicate either with VR headsets within existing classroom spaces or environments and are also able to have new learning experiences in immersive classrooms. These spaces are particularly important for younger students, as they create borderless locations within which students are able to learn and share without restrictions based on financial aspects, ability to travel, mobility or larger classroom sizes as is often the case in less wealthy schools. The immersive classroom model can be particularly effective in “transporting students beyond the classroom” without the need for expensive VR headsets, which some students also find difficult or uncomfortable to use.&nbsp;“Educational technology is evolving to include artificial intelligence.”AI also plays a big role, and we are only now beginning to understand its potential in education. We already use AI-dependent software in much of the technology accessed in our daily lives: from voice recognition and assistance, automatic mapping software and credit card fraud programmes, but how is this relevant to the developments in education?The impending use of AI agents in classrooms could help teachers save time, and gain access to a global database of information proven to have worked in classrooms around the world. Through using voice-activated technology to request visual cues or aids (for example, by requesting the display of an ancient map), teachers will be able to choose from a wide pool of existing knowledge in order to increase both comprehension and learning time within the classroom. AI also extends further into IA, or intelligence augmentation. This development could be particularly useful in classrooms as “IA centres ‘intelligence’ and ‘decision-making’ in humans but recognises that people sometimes are overburdened and benefit from assistive tools.” It is also important to note that both AI and IA will offer the possibility of greater regulation and consistency in teaching, learning and testing scenarios due to the omission of human error. Computers are able to create systematic patterns and models of reasoning that should ultimately level the playing field in education and standardise across the board.“A fast-changing world also means a fast-changing job market. So, to remain employable in the near future, people will need to continuously develop new skills and adapt.”As education models develop, so do the minds and skills of students. This ultimately leads to an ever-changing job market that is informed by each new development in the technological space. The traditional model of education, which is characterised by a box-ticking process of completing exams, gaining accolades and various certificates before entering the job market, has already been rendered obsolete. This is a new age of freelancers, which is focused on the gig economy amidst multiple startups and self-employed professionals. Young people entering the job market now will need to do so with a mindset of constant evolution and a desire for lifelong learning, contrary to previous, career-led trajectories.Education now takes on a new meaning, as employers begin to take on the role of educators as they offer courses and pathway developments to their employees and contractors. As we introduce the future of education to our children, we also have to consider their potential access points into the world of work and the continued journey of learning throughout life. As we strive to find a balance between fast-paced technological advancements and authentic, long-lasting human connection, we can look to educational models that combine elements of both digital and physical reality to enhance this.“Education is not just about job skills. It's also about critical thinking, creativity, and empathy, which are all needed for navigating an increasingly complex world.”

Helping parents and teachers connect with the digital world of today.

Digital Safety 

Educational Games

Demystifying the future of learning

”How does participation in the digital world influence children’s cognitive and social development?”“What skills, knowledge and capabilities do children need to manage, engage and benefit from participating in the digital world?”“How can family, educators and society effectively support children’s involvement in the digital world?”These are the three initial questions posed by the Woolf Fisher Research Centre at the University of Auckland. This study,&nbsp;<a href="https://developingindigitalworlds.blogs.auckland.ac.nz/">Developing in Digital Worlds</a>, began in July 2015 in order that parents, teachers and children would be offered the opportunity to understand developing engagement in the digital world. The concept was bolstered by the fact that “despite the promise of digital technologies, little research and development has occurred to determine the cognitive skills and the social skills children need.” This work looked into subject areas across English, maths, science and Māori contexts, informed by ‘new knowledge’ obtained from children aged 4-18. This study was the first of its kind. Focusing entirely on developing the link between teaching, engagement and game-based learning to promote educational outcomes, the research team began with three main objectives, detailed below:&nbsp;One, to understand the development and learning of ‘21st Century’ skills in children and adolescents;Two, to understand how we can prevent new digital environments opening up a second ‘digital divide’ between low socio-economic status or diverse cultural and linguistic communities, from more affluent ‘mainstream’ communities;And three, to understand how development of these skills differs between educational environments. The study surveys ‘early adopting’ clusters of schools, in which students are exposed to high-usage digital environments in and out-of-school, as well as ‘later adopting’ clusters whose students are at the initial stages of digital interaction. The Developing in Digital Worlds study also includes Māori medium Kura, in line with the Ministry of Business, Employment and Innovation’s Vision Mātauranga policy.Looking at accessibility“Educational professionals, networks, and parents/whānau'' will be offered long-term access to all of the digital resources and knowledge found throughout the study. This aims to create a digital knowledge exchange unbounded by socioeconomic borders and status. The study is focused on low socioeconomic communities, and intends to prevent a “digital divide”. Education trusts at partnering schools have contributed to the study through feedback sessions, partnerships and additional projects. This means that the scope of the study includes a true reflection of the diversity present in New Zealand with both Māori and Pasifika communities represented.&nbsp;But, what is the Digital Divide?The digital divide refers to the gap between demographics and regions that have access to modern information and communications technology and those that don’t.*Creating the gameFollowing their research, the team responsible used their findings to design and develop the educational game&nbsp;Astria: Countdown to Impact.&nbsp;The game “provides a collaborative game experience” to encourage players to expand their critical thinking and critical literacy, discovering important links to inclusive texts from the New Zealand Curriculum Te Marautanga O Aotearoa. The main focus of the game is to demonstrate the importance of ‘source, fact, bias’ framing, and offers teachers agency to create their own analysis of students’ critical reasoning and knowledge expansion. It also features automated assessment tools as well as real-time feedback reporting and critical literacy discourse options. Schools around the world are offered the option to login online and play the game, with widespread access creating borderless communication and a wider reach for digital knowledge exchange.What we can learn from this workWe can explore this study as a blueprint for understanding the important educational links between community and digital engagement. The focus on 21st-century skills with an added layer of respect to traditional texts and social involvement is particularly pertinent to our work at World of Us. We have also learned from how social and digital development can grow parallel, and that parents, teachers and families must be involved in every stage of the process to ensure a complete picture of the needs of children in this evolving landscape.&nbsp;*To learn more about the digital divide this resource from Investopedia breaks it down nicely <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/the-digital-divide-5116352 ">here</a>.&nbsp;

Dive into the first study in the world to develop the link between teaching, family engagement and game-based learning

Digital Futures

Spotlight on Developing in Digital Worlds

When the World of Us game was being imagined we found ourselves coming back time and time again to the same question: Can you take the experience of learning in a museum and translate it into an online space for children? But that only left us faced with a larger discussion. If you can recreate museums online, is this the way forward?Home to history, museums have long been the guardians of knowledge. They allow the public to explore beyond borders and travel through time—sometimes over centuries. With all this culture housed in brick and mortar, the desire to expand its accessibility online is both tantalising and challenging.&nbsp;If you can’t see it, touch it, stare in awe at it, will the younger generations still engage with it?&nbsp;During our exploration we learned many things. Notably, we uncovered some underpinnings of traditional museums—particularly those in affluent cities—that might not always narrate an authentic truth. The journey of many artefacts to these establishments has been, at times, fraught with ethical dilemmas and a clouded history. Items that were once unknown are now being identified and better understood. And also, the introduction of modern moments in time that hold weight in the world as we know it now.&nbsp;In such instances, we pondered whether the digital realm offers a way to right these historical wrongs. Can new technology better narrate a more inclusive and truthful history, setting a new paradigm for future generations?In this series, we’re not just looking at the replacement of physical with virtual. We’re analysing the very essence of education, representation, and the experiences we want to impart to future generations.Before we can build something in the World of Us we have to best understand its strengths and weaknesses in the world we live in—IRL. Museum learning has only ever been imagined one way. We want to know what the future holds for these things of the past.&nbsp;

Museums have been around for centuries but what does the future hold for these homes of history

Reimagining Museums as Hubs of Digital Learning

One of the factors working against the 12 million people living in Brazil’s lower-income communities or&nbsp;favelas is digital isolation. According to the Locomotive Research Institute,&nbsp;<a href="https://teletime.com.br/04/05/2021/internet-3g-ou-4g-nao-chega-ou-e-ineficiente-no-lar-de-43-dos-moradores-de-favelas/">43% of the residents have little to no access to 3G or 4G internet networks</a>, and regular broadband internet services are often unavailable. At the same time, families can’t always afford computers at home, and public schools lack resources as they&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/06/11/brazil-failure-respond-education-emergency">are severely underfunded</a>.The pandemic brought the severity of this situation to light, as school closures meant that over&nbsp;<a href="https://www.unicef.org/brazil/media/12566/file/enfrentamento-da-cultura-do-fracasso-escolar.pdf">four million</a> students missed out on education because they didn’t have access to remote learning or in-person classes. Of these,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/06/11/brazil-failure-respond-education-emergency">Black or Indigenous students and those from lower income households, were hit the hardest</a>.Cassiane Cardoso dos Santos, a 17-year-old student from&nbsp;Vigário Geral, a favela in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, is one such student. She explains:&nbsp;“At the beginning of the pandemic it was very difficult because in order to study, I had to have access to the internet and I didn't have it at that time. So it was very difficult not only for me but also for my brothers. This ended up affecting my grades a lot and also my siblings' learning.”For Thais Xavier, a 23-year-old Illustrator and Game Developer who lives in Tijuca, another Rio neighbourhood, this is also a problem. “Things got really bad in the community where I live. The reality was that a lot of people were losing their jobs and had nothing to eat. The course I was changing from being in-person to online classes, which prejudiced me since I didn't have the necessary equipment at home for what the class was about”, she said.But one initiative is&nbsp;opening the doors to an alternative kind of education, and even a potential source of income.&nbsp;Where? In the unlikely world of video games.&nbsp;<a href="https://afrogames.com.br/">AfroGames</a> is a Rio-based non-profit that defines itself as the world’s&nbsp;first eSports player training centre inside a slum. Kitted out with expensive, state-of-the-art gaming equipment, it provides 100 young people, aged 12 and over, with classes in Game Programming, League of Legends, Fortnite, and English. Its mission, Executive Director Ricardo Chantilly explains, is to “bring the billionaire gaming world into the favela.”And he’s not exaggerating. In 2020, the video game market was valued at $159.3 billion,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/292056/video-game-market-value-worldwide/">according to Statista</a>. And with technology&nbsp;becoming ever more accessible, and the pandemic seeing even greater numbers of players turn online, this figure is expected to hit&nbsp;an incredible&nbsp;<a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/292056/video-game-market-value-worldwide/">$268 billion by 2025</a>. So yes, if you want to try your hand at video game development, the time is now.&nbsp;A lack of diversityThe gaming industry has long been a very white field. However, it has been even more challenging for players in favelas due to location-specific obstacles. In addition to slower internet speeds and the barrier of costly gaming equipment, athletes in these communities have to contend with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/4avdwb/police-raids-in-rios-favelas-were-banned-but-now-theyre-back-and-deadlier-than-ever">police raids</a>, flying bullets from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.trtworld.com/americas/brazil-militias-control-more-than-half-of-rio-study-40715">“milícia” paramilitary groups</a>, and drug factions recruiting new members off the streets.&nbsp;However, as game development tools become more accessible and representation grows, we are seeing a new wave of games that recentre non-Eurocentric narratives; with the likes of&nbsp;<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/623640/Mulaka/">Mulaka</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://thewagaduchronicles.com/">The Wagadu Chronicles</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1525580/Kabaret/">Kabaret</a>, to name a few.&nbsp;Where does TALES come in?<a href="https://www.talesofus.com/">Tales of Us (TALES)</a> has had its sights set on creating a video game for quite some time now. Not only because of the estimated&nbsp;<a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/293304/number-video-gamers/#:~:text=In%202021%2C%20there%20were%20almost,billion%20gamers%20across%20the%20globe.">3.24 billion gamers in the world in 2021</a>—that’s 3.24 billion people who have the power to support social change—but also because the interactive element of gaming opens up entirely new realms for storytelling and understanding other people’s experiences.Inspired by the success of Upper One Games’&nbsp;<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/295790/Never_Alone_Kisima_Ingitchuna/">Never Alone</a>, which worked closely with the Iñupiat, an Alaskan Native people, to tell their stories, TALES started to think about how other communities may want to share tales from their cultures through games too.&nbsp;TALES already had a personal connection to Brazil among team members, so the initiative's game engine project—World of Us (WoU)—proposed to join forces with AfroGames.&nbsp;How? By inviting students to create virtual minigames in a game jam. And what better fusion of ideas and interests than to&nbsp;create these based on indigenous myths, told from the perspective of Brazilians themselves.&nbsp;The big ideaParticipants aged 12-29 were invited to sign up for the game development marathon, titled Game Jam World of Us, which took place between 12-14 November. They were then split into groups where they could decide who would take on the roles of the story researcher, scriptwriter, developer, and pitch coordinator.&nbsp;They then had just 48 hours to think up a concept and develop it into 2D minigames, using the free platform ‘Construct’, and the help of former AfroGames graduates, before presenting it to a panel of judges. These included Obirin Odara, a former AfroReggae social worker; Ricardo Souza, an expert in animation and 3D design; Bernardo Assad, an industry expert who had also grown up in the favela;&nbsp;and&nbsp;Tainá Moreno, a Brazilian-Dutch producer at Tales of Us.&nbsp;The cash prize:&nbsp;R$5 thousand (five thousand reais—or €1,569) for each of the two winning teams.According to Marcela Zanon, who coordinated TALES' organisation of the AfroGames, the event taught more than basic coding and 3D development: “The only thing the students really know how to use is Discord, actually. I think they are born knowing how to use it. They have never had experience with how you organise things, how you share content, how you create an idea and express it, and how you keep your whole team updated. And so, at the end of the day, it's not only learning about technology, it's much bigger than that.”The event was hosted in&nbsp;the headquarters of&nbsp;AfroReggae, the umbrella organisation that started back in 1993 as a social impact project aimed at reducing the rates of crime and drug trafficking on the streets by empowering communities through art, dance, education, and Afro-Brazilian culture.Back then, Vigário Geral had made global headlines when a&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vig%C3%A1rio_Geral_massacre">massacre</a> took place; a showdown between police and warring militias resulted in the deaths of 21 innocent people. While AfroGames has supported individuals in the area, gang warfare continues to mark the backdrop of the community. When asked about it, Zanon described walking through the main square to visit the AfroGames project and seeing kids “playing football, and there was a guy with a gun. And for them, it's nothing, they are totally unphased.”On the dayDepending on the age groups, the contestants responded differently to the mythology briefings, with the younger kids asking how they would make the game more fun, and the older students reflecting on how the myth and format could speak to their own stories.&nbsp;After reading the briefing once, Xavier knew immediately what they should do.&nbsp;“It was incredible to see”, explained Manuela Rahal, another event coordinator. “Because it was so quick. She mixed her own story with the mythic story. We thought they were going to just read the myth and create a game. We didn’t expect them to bring their own perception, individuality, life, story. So I think that was a high point in the project for me.”&nbsp;Xavier’s game starts with the main character reading and discovering a myth online. Falling in love with the tale, she reads the story again and again until she eventually falls asleep. In her dreams she sees herself as Iansã, the warrior, setting out on a heroic quest to free a character named Xangô.&nbsp;Xavier explains: “This story is about a girl who wants to find out about her ancestry and why she is the way she is. This is an experience that every Black girl has gone through; wondering where her family name comes from and what her origin is.”&nbsp;At the end of the second day, it was time to hear the judges' decision. It was a full turnout. Zanon remembers: “Their parents were there. Their grannies were there. Just to watch them experience something they couldn't even believe was possible. It was incredible. The mother of one of the girls was so proud, saying, ‘She is my daughter, this girl will run the world.’”Xavier’s game “Ominira” won joint top place alongside “The legend of the Guaraná”, based on the Sateré-Mawé indigenous peoples’ myth about the origin of the Brazilian guaraná fruit. The two teams then moved through to the accelerator phase, where they were mentored by experts in the final development of their games.Was it a success?While it’ll take work on multiple fronts,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/06/11/brazil-failure-respond-education-emergency">including federal support</a>, to tackle the complex issues of the education deficit and social inequality, projects like this can benefit individuals by creating new job opportunities and promoting wider recognition of the talent that exists there.&nbsp;As&nbsp;Xavier explained:&nbsp;“What I hope people will learn is that indie games make it possible to identify ourselves within this type of narrative. They can show the value and beauty of our ancestry, that for years was considered not worthy. This has a huge impact because it not only gives me the strength to continue, but is also an opportunity to show my friends and family that besides being fun it is a job.”For Chantilly too, the project marks a milestone.&nbsp;“A digital inclusion and social impact project such as AfroGames is a space of opportunities and shelter for children and young people who live in a situation of social vulnerability. Through courses, and events like a game jam, students are able to see the world with a more optimistic perspective. And it doesn’t only affect the child or young person participating in this project, it also affects family, friends, and the local community. Because it is through the project, and the activities it promotes, that the favela is seen, felt, and shared with the world”, he said.Community-led projects like this can be repeated elsewhere, and according to Xavier, should be:&nbsp;“Events like this bring a new vision, not only for those who live in favelas, but an important message to the rest of the world. Slums are not just violence and misery, they are also full of potential, work, dreams and intelligence.”

Kids are creating their own digital futures! Two new video games created by children in the favela of Vigário Geral launched in December. 

What Happens When Brazil’s Favelas Take On The World Of Online Gaming?

“Mama, Papa, I have come up with a new game. Do you want to play it with me?”In youth, life is a game. We make games to pass the time, to explore the world around us, and to collaborate with others. The games we create are shaped largely by where we are. In warmer climates, playing outside inspires the rules and boundaries of games. Where it is often cooler, games are created in more contained, indoor spaces—though imaginations can still run free. Our surroundings, culture, and history shape the way we come up with these games and their rules. We learn right from wrong and how to play fairly. With these skills we are preparing for life as adults—even if we don’t realise it at the time.&nbsp;Our mission at <a href="https://talesofus.com/">TALES</a> has always been to create space and help tell the stories of those who want to be heard. When we began creating the World of Us game we knew that showcasing myths and histories through games could help reach and engage the younger generation and their curious minds. Who better to create these games than young people themselves? In 2021, TALES began hosting workshops, inviting bright young minds to come together to write, design and create their own minigames—based on the world as they know it.&nbsp;From these workshops we saw an amazing opportunity.&nbsp;We wanted to give young digital creators their own platform to highlight their work and the tales of the localities we work in. So, we made sure to keep developing their ideas so that even more people can learn from their stories. Whether they had a great idea or if they had the tools to build their digital journeys, we were able to support in sharing these incredible worldviews and talents. Minigames are, quite simply put, smaller games found within a larger game. By creating these games within the World of Us Game we are able to tell more stories throughout the journey.&nbsp;In this series—Making Minigames—we are going to take you through how we have brought these ideas to life, who are the creative minds behind the games, and the local myths and histories that inspired them.&nbsp;All the games we’ll talk about will be available to play in the Wandering Isles inside WoU. Follow the series to find out how you can play along and support young game designers in the process. The first game we’ll be sharing is&nbsp;Amana. Stay tuned.

Discover the hidden gems that lie within the World of Us game. 

Making Minigames: Behind the Scenes

Growing up in Cluj-Napoca, the largest city in Transylvania, Romania, Horea spent as much time as possible exploring the nearby mountains. Not just as somewhere to escape from the buzz of the city but as a source of adventure and inspiration. “Even as a child, I’ve always been interested in two things which are essential to games: technology and arts.”This passion inspired his education first in school and then at the Babeș-Bolyai University. “I studied computer science and got a Master’s Degree in the field back in 2008, studying non-photorealistic rendering (NPR). My paper began with the premise that realistic rendering will someday reach a pinnacle—where everything looks perfectly real.” But Horea didn’t just write about this idea. To demonstrate the various ways we could create this realism digitally, he needed to show it. “As a practical example, I built an AR app which was barely running on my Symbian-based Nokia, that showed off some of these shaders in real time on a pre-iPhone mobile device.” Alongside studies, Horea turned to online tutorials to master 3D artistry and attended in person art classes to hone his 2D skills. “Getting access to these tutorials was really hard. We didn’t have access to the Internet at home in 1998. I went to my mom’s office and had to copy them over on 1.44 MB floppy disks.”That’s right, floppy disks. But this effort for self-improvement was truly worth it. These foundational NPR techniques that Horea learned during this time and mastered since are being applied in the WoU Game we’re building today.&nbsp;So what is a Lead Technical Artist? “I am responsible for making sure that all the graphics look as good as they can—and work the best that they can on all sorts of game systems.” Since 1998, Horea has been working on games with a long-time friend, business partner and mentor, Cristian. “In the beginning just as amateurs of course, but later on we landed a job at a local company to work on an MMO RPG.” That’s a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game for those who aren’t familiar with the acronym. “That game never saw the light of day, but it was here that we connected with our other long time friend, business partner, and art director, Adrian.” In 2013, the team formed their own company: Tractor Set Go! (TSG).&nbsp;“At TSG we’ve worked on numerous projects, mostly in collaboration or for clients outside of our country, like Hash Rush, Time Raiders, Cyber Legends and many “serious games” to be used privately to teach employees how to use technologies or to learn about their company.”With a solid background in both programming and art, problem-solving comes naturally now. “I bridge the gap between programmers and artists and I really enjoy this sort of work and communication.”&nbsp;“Games, like other forms of art, are an essential vessel through which children learn. When they spend time in these virtual worlds they get to experiment with different choices, they experience fascinating worlds, and they develop dexterity.” When art and entertainment are combined with the right mechanics, Horea believes games have the power to educate. “Just like a good story, when a child is immersed in the virtual world, they want to learn all about it. So it’s a great opportunity to teach about plants and animals, for example, since the brain is so open to this influx of information.” This immersive experience is also known as <a href="https://www.worldofus.info/content/how-can-young-gamers-find-their-flow">flow state </a>and if harnessed has great potential for young minds. “The development of WoU is guided by the core principles of the game: to educate responsibly while having fun and collaborating.”&nbsp;In order to create a game about the world, the WoU team relies heavily on input from those who know these unique areas best. The various cultural studies and natural science information requires expert insights to make sure they’re not just being reflected accurately online, but also retold by the right storytellers. “I’ve been part of the Romania PAD team, and our task was to breathe in the world within the very special enclave that is the Danube Delta. We’ve met people with truly unique stories—their life is secluded from the mainstream, the environment can be so extreme, you feel you’ve entered a different world.” “The choice to tell stories through local myths I think was an excellent one. Myths have two qualities essential for this game: they represent cultures very well and they are easy to grasp even for the younger audience.”Despite being from Romania there was still plenty that can be learned from embracing nature with new eyes. “One day, very early in the morning, we set out on the Danube canals with a local fisherman and guide, Ionut. He convinced us that that’s the time nature feels the most alive, before the motor boats come scaring away all the birds, and succumbing to all the delicate sounds of the waters and reeds. He was, of course, right. Slowly paddling in kayaks, talking in whispers while strolling through the canal waters shimmering in the golden light of the rising sun, a new world opened to us.”“The whole experience was so revealing about this aquatic, strange world, and how the ecosystem works together. The design of the WoU lands I think is a beautiful example of how multiple cultures and biomes can be represented in a single game.” It’s not just nature where Horea finds inspiration. Movies, especially Nordic films, also have been sources of truth when it comes to understanding humans and nature and what can happen in the wilderness.&nbsp;As a visual lead on the project, we were curious to find out what the most exciting detail in the game design is for Horea. “When you are navigating through the level, the sky is your compass. It has different colours for each section of the world, so you know in which direction to go. We’ve had to write a very interesting shader for that to work and I hope our players will appreciate it!”&nbsp;Well, we have certainly appreciated these insights into Horea’s work and all that is still to come from this journey.

Meet Horea, the Lead Technical Artist on the WoU Game, whose passion for technology and arts is bringing our online world to life. 

WoU, Who?

With about 71% of the earth’s surface covered by water in one form or another it’s no surprise that it is frequently found in our online worlds. Water is referred to in many ways. In some, it is dramatic and full of secrets of the deep, in others it trickles and gently flows bringing life to natural surroundings. But we believe its greatest quality is the connection it creates.&nbsp;In nature, water is not just valuable for humans but also for plants, animals, and shaping the land. It is the thing that keeps grass green and helps trees grow to magnificent heights. It also serves as a watering hole for local animals and plants bringing wildlife to meet for one common purpose—to hydrate. In our&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldofus.info/content/water-water-everywhere">previous article</a>, we pointed out that humans are on average 60% water. This means that water, in one form or another, has to play a role in the world around us—and online worlds are no exception.&nbsp;In gaming, water can take many forms. RPG (role-player games) often use water as a measure of health, highlighting the importance that water is a crucial part of staying active when taking on adventures both big and small. Farming-simulation games are a great example of water being required in online nature. Without watering crops, much like in real life, plants wither and die and it is the player's role to manage and care for the needs of the unique plants and any farmyard animals. No matter the location—a desert, a forest, or a beach—water will appear.&nbsp;Another moment water appears in gaming is to explore. Swimming or the use of&nbsp; boats unlock new corners of maps and, much like in the real world, allows players to experience different terrains, foods and cultures. But sometimes travel can be more creative. For example, in Pokémon, water type Pokémon can be taught to swim allowing players to explore without the need for a ferry and opening the door to even more unique experiences on other lands and at sea.&nbsp;Look at any map of the world and you will notice, water is often defined by the countries it separates. But what if we were to flip this narrative and see water as our global connector?In the WoU game, all things “water” have been designed with purpose. Our game guide,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldofus.info/content/a-new-player-has-entered-the-game">NOLA</a>, was inspired by water’s fluidity to create a being that was not rigidly defined by any single appearance of any one location or gender. Water in WoU can also grow seeds—much like in farming-simulation games—except with an added twist of requiring collaboration with other players. It’s also how players will travel. Waterways that connect the lands are the fastest way to explore. Most importantly, the water we have designed is inspired by human and natural truths. Not just how we use it but how it looks and sounds. Researching our real world opened our eyes to how we want water to be interacted with in the World of Us.&nbsp;Next in our series, we’ll be diving deeper into how the WoU game will be using water to connect players and encourage exploration.&nbsp; &nbsp;

How Can Young Gamers Find Their Flow?

Making Minigames: Behind the Scenes

WoU, Who?

Water, Water Everywhere: A Global Connector

Avatars: A Short History