RomeVideoGameLab, the video game festival with an eye to the future of the country

RomeVideoGameLab

Video games over the years have become many things. First of all, they have always been a hobby and a pastime, a harp. Once they have evolved they have become more complex and, even if it is not known for certain whether they have become an art, they certainly contain almost all of them: music, cinema, literature, painting. Looking behind the scenes, video games are also a job, a tool. To make some money, but also for promotion.

If in Tie-ins the promotion is that of a film or a book, in reality we have seen that video games are a very powerful tool for promoting a sport, a brand and a place. But also to promote a job: gamification is a new discipline that studies how to make certain activities more pleasant, gratifying and magnetic through play.

The Paper Lab logo But video games can also be an important tool informative. They can be directly, through works designed to teach, perhaps to the little ones, how to count and how to behave, and indirectly. How many have discovered Monteriggioni thanks to Assassin's Creed or have visited Los Angeles or London respectively through GTA and Watch Dogs? Civilization is an excellent source of information for historical leaders and monuments, while Battlefield 1, albeit with some controversy too much, has revealed some battles of the First World War to those who did not know them.

In a country like Italy which, among a thousand problems, is teeming with culture, history and traditions, video games could be a very powerful promotional tool, not only for the near future, but also if it is present.

Fortunately, the institutions seem having noticed it and, even if a little timidly and perhaps with a little delay, they seem to want to try to catch the ball. An initiative like RomeVideoGameLab makes us think that we are on the right path.

RomeVideoGameLab

Minecraft is a blockbuster that can be used for educational purposes From 4 to 7 November 2021 a very special video game festival was held at the studios in via Tuscolana in Rome , being more devoted to the educational-informative side than to the recreational one. RomeVideoGameLab in a few days welcomed almost 10,000 people, including enthusiasts, students and professionals. A remarkable number, especially considering the omnipresent anti Covid-19 rules, fundamental to guarantee the safety of all.

As we said at the beginning, the peculiarity of RomeVideoGameLab is that it is not a "normal" video game fair, even if there were moments of entertainment such as the final concert, which allowed to enjoy live some of the most beautiful soundtracks of science fiction and fantasy films, or the presentation of some interesting projects coming from the talented Italian teams. Or the possibility of driving a Kart in the company of Mario and Luigi.

The fact is that these moments have been interspersed with others in which, for example, Minecraft is used to teach children while playing. The workshop An adventure in time, created in collaboration with the Youtube channel "At School with Minecraft", showed in fact how it is possible to use a real blockbuster to enhance those skills deemed necessary in the near future: creativity, ability to solve complex problems , develop a logical thought, know how to collaborate with others.

There were moments in which history was studied: both that of video games, through a complete and vast selection of consoles and retrogaming, and that of of man. With 6 1 Myth augmented reality (that of Pokémon Go) was used to study the Latin gods, while with Lex Arcana, a tabletop role-playing game, you can learn various things about ancient Rome.

DIAGirls is an exploratory game that accompanies the player to discover the achievements of some of the most renowned scientists in history.

Look at the present

Italy Land of Wonders allows you to discover the main Italian monuments The videogame it is an important tool not only for studying the past, but also for raising awareness on some fundamental issues today, but above all in the near future of Italy, but also of every single person. Umanager teaches to develop managerial skills, while Ecogeo allows you to explore and learn the secrets of the circular economy.

Video games have also been useful to overcome and internalize the pandemic and will be increasingly useful to tell new stories, or enhance our territories. The Umbrian Chronicles is, for example, a video game designed to promote and enhance the cultural and environmental heritage of the territory of the Municipality of Spoleto and Valnerina. An operation similar to that done by Gaeta with The Great Adventure.

Italy Land of Wonders, which we reviewed a few weeks ago, wants to introduce the world to some of the most incredible wonders that can only be found in our country , but there are also experiences to discover the Gran Sasso laboratory or to study medicine, biology and climate.

Professionals

The man / machine relationship seen through Japanese anime To do all this is definitely needed by professionals. People able to program a video game, both to give it an artistic direction, to orchestrate it, but also to promote and sell it. For this reason, tables were also organized in which independent developers found institutions and investors, in order to create a substrate and a real industry capable of generating well-being, perhaps not "simply" for themselves, but also for the whole system. country.

This is why RomeVideoGameLab is an important appointment that we hope will be able to stir things up and allow Italian creativity and the beauty of our country to emerge also in the world of video games.

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