I went to TEDxBrighton last year and one of the talks that I still think about and cite regularly was a talk given by Megan Leckie from blockbuilders. Megan alongside Joe founded blockbuilders so that, in her words people could make a difference ‘because they can’, kids can ‘create some kind of change’.

But, how?

Well, blockbuilders use games to engage and reach kids so that they can make a difference. The example she uses in her talk is the Pheonix Estate in Lewes. They invited a group of kids in to help them design, using minecraft a town that they would want to live in. Essentially what they were doing was town planning using a game!

As Megan quite rightly points out ‘kids are experts in this (minecraft)’. They are experts in the digital world and using this as a tool to give them an opportunity is, in my opinion nothing short of brilliant.

Since this talk I have been thinking about games as an avenue to create a brighter future. I find it slightly ironic that blockbuilders had to translate the digital creations into 3D printed format to be able to communicate with the adults, ironic and amusing but also worrying.

If our children are our future and our children are engaged digitally but having to translate to their parents shouldn’t we be gaming too?

I then wondered about how adults approach games and how we could open up our minds and our potential through games. I came across another TEDx talk where Shimpei Takahashi talks about how by playing games we can come up with new ideas.

I like this idea and I believe in it and I feel there is a lot more exploring to do and whilst I remain convinced by the idea that games play a vital role in our future I remain more convinced that our kids expertise in the digital world will drive our future more.

So whether it’s digital gaming or digital living our future is certainly headed in a virtual direction.

I strongly recommend Megan’s talk if you haven’t seen it, she delivers it well and I didn’t miss a word of it either onsite or when I watched it back.

www.blockbuilders.co.uk