Games for Good keynote speaker sees play as crucial to adolescent development
Susan Rivers believes that having a playful mindset can open new doors — especially for teenagers.
“There are so many kids who enjoy video games and are excited to try new things, even if they don’t know how to do it,” says Rivers, the executive director and chief scientist at iThrive Games, chief scientist and co-lead at the History Co:Lab, and the founding editor-in-chief of the Journal of Games, Self, and Society. Being able to explore new ideas and skills through games can help teens grow into confident, trailblazing adults.
Rivers is the keynote speaker for the upcoming Games for Good conference at Clark University. The event, hosted by the Becker School of Design & Technology, focuses on how games and technology are a powerful collaboration point across industries and excellent tools for education, storytelling, accessibility and inclusive design, and exploring social justice and civic engagement through play. Conference registration is open.
Rivers, who holds a doctorate in psychology, was running a research lab at Yale University designing and evaluating social-emotional learning programs when she realized games created for elementary and middle schoolers couldn’t be aged-up for high school learners — the adolescent brain was much too different. At the same time, Rivers had received grant funding from the military to explore the use of technology and simulation for creating trust between computers and humans.
“This was before the smartphone days,” says Rivers. “We were developing this digital simulation that had emotional intelligence training embedded in it, and we found that was actually creating a higher degree of trust, emotional regulation skills, and stress management.” It became obvious to Rivers that the lessons learned from that project could apply to using digital tools to connect with teenagers and support their social-emotional development.
Since then, Rivers has used the intersection of design and psychology to help create digital spaces for teens to learn, grow, and connect. In a Q&A with ClarkU News, Rivers shared insights on the importance of gaming in adolescence. The following is edited for length and clarity.
Q: How has your work evolved alongside the rapid evolution of technology in the last 20 years?
A: There are constant innovations, from the amazing games we can play on our phones to virtual reality to augmented reality. I’ve always been most intrigued by considering what the invitation is to young people, regardless of how innovative the technology is.
Technology isn’t the thing that’s creating the outcome that we’re looking for — it’s a tool to help us get there. What’s the hook that is inviting the young person into the use of technology for what learning goals? The innovation in the technology itself has gone at such a faster speed than the adults who are holding the space, quite frankly.
I’m interested in how we engage adults in setting the context for learning, how the technology itself can support the young person, help them play, and help them evaluate what they know and what they’re learning. Technology is continuing to advance to be able to do that.
Q: How can adults make games more enticing for teens?
A: I think the most important thing adults can do is to recognize how awesome this period of development is, and how impactful they can be — good or bad — to the young people in front of them. There’s so much brain development happening during ages 10 to 25, that if we offer young people an environment that’s appealing, full of rich resources, that is inviting and creates a sense of belonging and purpose and mattering in a young person, that impacts them over the course of their entire life.
Be really open and playful with the teens that are in front of you, and appreciate all the magnificence that young people bring into learning spaces. When we as parents or educators or adults are resistant to teens being teens, we create these tensions and challenging spaces for teens to fully develop.
Q: What is a game you’ve created with teens?
A: “Our Threads” is a game that we designed with 30 high school students who are refugees. The problem we presented to them to solve was, “What do other newcomers to the United States need to feel comfortable in classroom spaces?” Across a three-day design session, the thing these 30 young people identified was that they wished people asked them questions. What mattered most was seeing shared humanity. They produced a question card game concept that we have since published and is now available for sale.
Q: What are you excited to experience at the Games for Good conference?
A: I’m excited to connect with students from Clark and elsewhere, and researchers and designers, to see what they are creating and discovering in this work. I’ll be sharing what we’ve been up to at iThrive Games. I always walk away from conferences with lots of ideas and usually several collaborations. I’m really excited to expand my network and connect with folks who inspire me and see if we can get some projects off the ground.
