It’s the middle of 2020 and the world has undergone unprecedented change. The beginning of this year saw the first outbreaks of what would become known as COVID-19. A few months later the first cases were being reported in the U.S. As I write this, there is scarcely a place on this planet that has not been affected.
Recently, our long-time collaborator, Pablo Suarez, of the Red Cross asked us if we could implement an online version of a game he created. It’s called a Cartoonathon. It’s no ordinary game, but instead, is designed to increase participant interactivity and creativity in problem-solving by injecting humor into the conversation. What a phenomenal idea. We took him up on his challenge and have now finished a first version of the game.
The game, or game-like experience, allows participants in Zoom or Teams or similar conferencing apps to experience the joyful disruption of humor through comics created by New Yorker magazine (and others) cartoonists. The disruption via humor changes the dynamics of a conversation about, well, anything, really, and promotes a more creative, lateral-thinking approach to problem-solving and ideation.
We’ve run the game with hundreds of participants so far and have witnessed fascinating results. Our goal is that in the near future we will be able to provide this (and others) experience to the general public via a new platform we are creating through our new subsidiary, GoodGames, LLC.
More to come.