As a keen gamer and someone who frequently dips in and out of the industry, the concept of “games for change”—or what is more recently referred to as “impact games”—has always been something I struggled to fully understand. I’ve never quite connected the dots between advocacy and games. The framework of a game didn’t seem to lend itself to addressing real-world problems or triggering meaningful behavioural change in society.
But my perspective was challenged in the best way possible.
The prompt – designing for purpose
When you walk into a workshop led by Glenn Gillis, CEO of Sea Monster and chair of Games for Change Africa, you know you’re not just there to play games. You’re there to interrogate what play means, how it shapes us, and more importantly, how it can drive change. During this year’s Fak’ugesi Festival at the Tshimologong Precinct in Johannesburg, I found myself seated among a diverse group of individuals from numerous industries, ready to conceptualise a game—not for fun, but for impact.
This idea did make me think – how often do we engage with media that genuinely asks us to do something beyond passive consumption?
Our task was deceptively simple – choose a real-world issue and develop a game concept that addresses it. With a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) as our anchor, we began brainstorming. With our group of six, ideas flew across the table—wild, ambitious, and occasionally nonsensical. But Gillis’s guidance anchored us. “Don’t aim for perfect,” he said. “Aim for actionable.” His words reminded us that impact gaming isn’t about grand gestures; it’s about small, meaningful steps that inspire users to think, feel, and act differently.
Our group settled on a mobile community-support game wrapped in a color-coded safe space, designed to foster connections and provide mental health resources, available over platforms such as WhatsApp. The process was messy, and the idea was far from polished, but it was a glimpse into the possibilities of gamified problem-solving or rather, in this case, creating an interactive space that could assist those that had been a survivor of some sort of abuse.
Players could level up by completing tasks that mirrored real-world solutions—sharing stories, learning coping mechanisms, and supporting others. It wasn’t flashy, but it was impactful and lent itself to intentional engagement, and that was the point.
Reframing games as tools for change
Gillis opened the session with a provocative statement, “Games are the most powerful engagement tool of our time.” Games, as he explained, are unique because they immerse players in active problem-solving. They require participation. They encourage empathy. And they often succeed where lectures or campaigns fall short.
This sentiment was reinforced during our game design session. While the tools we used were simple – pens, paper, and conversation – the ideas leaned into the profound. Gillis’s insistence that games can be vehicles for change, whether through raising awareness, providing education, or sparking behavioural shifts, reframed how I thought about the medium, even though we are still just making games.
Africa’s Role in Global Impact Gaming
The following day, Glenn opened the Games for Change Africa conference at the broader Fak’ugesi Festival, with a rallying cry for African innovation in gaming. “It’s not about where we’re from; it’s about what we can do,” he said, addressing the audience. He spoke of the need to reclaim Africa’s narrative, ensuring that its talent and ideas aren’t exploited by global powers but celebrated and scaled from within.
This sentiment was echoed by numerous studio heads in my conversations throughout the week. Africa has world class talent, world class work already being produced, and there is a certain knack to that, a kind of working with what we have where too often there is no access to funding, that in my own view, lends itself to a particular angle, mood, or even flavour to what comes out of the continent that one doesn’t see elsewhere.
As Gillis reminded us, Africa is not just a participant in the global gaming industry – it’s a leader in rethinking its possibilities. “We’re not playing catch-up,” he said during the workshop. “We’re innovating in ways the rest of the world can’t even imagine yet.” African developers bring to the table: resourcefulness, cultural depth, and a fresh perspective on what gaming can achieve. He called for more investment in local talent and more opportunities for African voices to shape global narratives.
From Ideas to Action
Reflecting on the experience, the beauty of the workshop wasn’t just in the ideas it generated, but in how it enabled me to look at gaming in a new way. I’ve always loved games, but I had never really considered them as mechanisms for real-world impact. Gillis’s approach to gamification reframes the medium entirely – games aren’t just escapism – they can be a way to engage deeply with the world’s most pressing challenges and present innovative solutions.
Take Chowtown, a financial literacy game developed by Gillis’s Sea Monster studio on Roblox. It’s a prime example of how impact games can make learning both accessible and effective.
Looking at it this way, it appeared as a blueprint for how creativity, community, and purpose can intersect. Whether it’s through teaching financial literacy, tackling mental health, or reimagining cultural narratives, impact gaming offers an opportunity to help shape the world. And with the global gaming population growing exponentially, this potential may soon become a reality.
