Playing for change

Posted by Renee Frojo, social media girl

Edgard Gouveia is convinced that at least one third of humanity — or 2 billion people — want to save the world. Most of them, however, don’t know where to begin. So Edgard came up with a simple solution: make it a game. With this game, community-based work turns into play and strategy becomes fun.

We filmed Edgard and about 20 enthusiastic playmates last weekend for “Playing to Change the World,” an event co-sponsored by Yes!, InterPlay and the Oakland Peace Center. Towering well above six feet, Edgard has a warm, sincere smile and twinkling eyes that exuded compassion, joy and love.

During a fun-filled two hours of cooperative play, Edgard guided the group through a series of discussions about community, how we interact and how games bring out the best qualities in everyone. The exercise was only a small taste of Edgard’s ongoing Oasis Games, which are usually two-day events that invite communities of people to tackle a challenging social activism project.

“Play for me is the meaning of life,” Edgard said at the meeting. “It’s the ultimate reason for being here.”

This passion and belief in play led Edgard to his newest project, PlayTheCall. Edgard sat down with filmmaker Gwen Gordon and the film crew after the event for a short interview to discuss the game and what he hopes to accomplish with it.

Still in development, this internet-based game will use social media to organize and mobilize large networks of people to do service projects around the world. To give you a better idea: the game starts by going online and finding a certain “path” to take. It could be helping save the forest or cleaning up a city. After accepting a task, such as planting 100 trees in one week, the player’s job is to get on a social media network of choice and mobilize friends to help complete the challenge. If the player gets 100 friends to each plan one tree, for example, then he/she can complete the task and earn points.

The game has three “F’s” as its main criteria:

• Fast – It must be a task that can be accomplished fast.
• Free – It must be free to participate.
• Fun -It must be fun and involve several friends.

Before starting the game, Edgar said participants should ask themselves the following questions: What is your gift to the planet? What’s the best version of yourself? What is your higher dream? “Reconnect with that and offer that to your friends, family, neighborhood, or the whole planet,” he said. “It’s not something hard. You can play your call. It can be fun, fast, exciting and enjoyable.”