UPDATE: DEADLINE EXTENDED - Open Call for Sessions!

The 19th annual Games for Change Festival will take place in-person and online July 12 - 15, 2022. Each year, G4C solicits ideas for program sessions from the community. This form allows us to gather your ideas for talks, panels, workshops and demos.

As in previous years, the G4C Festival will feature sessions that celebrate the past and explore the future for the games for change community. For our 2022 Festival, we will be highlighting sessions that inspire a sense of connection, belonging, and recharging relationships. Please propose session ideas that are in keeping with that ethos and specifically reference the programmatic areas defined below. Note that there is no fee for submissions.

The 2022 G4C Festival talks and panels will focus on four areas:

(You will be asked to indicate into which of these areas your submission best fits.)

Games for Learning: Games reimagine how we learn, both in and out of the classroom. This track features diverse perspectives from educators, developers and experts who are committed to helping learning games reach their full potential as educational tools, especially when transitioning to a remote learning environment. Other noteworthy topics can include reflecting on remote models, lessons learned, and inspiring stories of success.

Health & Wellness: With digital medicine on the horizon, games continue to reshape how medical professionals provide care, comfort, and security. The road ahead undoubtedly includes games and interactive experiences that can improve cognitive skills, fitness, and mindfulness. This track includes forward-thinking sessions around interactive experiences that aim to improve healthcare systems and individual well-being. Strong research and evaluation studies will be prioritized in the review process.

Civics & Social Issues: As we strive for social equity and justice, explore how games can drive responsible citizenship in an era that desperately needs it. This track highlights how games can bridge the gaps between communities and inspire action in a time when rapid shifts in the political sphere demand that citizens come to grips with the complex systems that govern our lives.

XR for Change: Immersive environments have quickly become a nexus for communities all over the world, providing a glimpse of our digital futures. XR for Change is dedicated to exploring how immersive technologies are used to address real-world challenges, create empathy and drive social change. This track will explore a range of ways augmented, virtual, and mixed reality can have a meaningful impact in journalism, health, education, issue advocacy, workplace training, and provide a new frontier for social research.

Curators' Note on Diversity

The Festival is a platform for all voices and backgrounds, providing the community an opportunity to celebrate and reinforce G4C's core values: cross-sector collaboration, innovative and progressive thinking, and diverse prospectives. As such, our team of curators will strive to highlight the work and achievements from underrepresented communities.

Please also note that self-promotional presentations that are not focused on transparent sharing of lessons learned, failures, and meaningful takeaways for the audience are unlikely to be seriously considered.

Key Dates

January 10 - Submissions open
February 13 - Submissions close (11:59pm EST)
March/April - Outreach to Accepted Session Submissions
July 12-15 - Games for Change Festival