Global Kids leaders kicked off the Playing for Keeps program at Long Island City High School last week. They started the program by learning about characters in a game and playing for the first time Gamestar Mechanic.
 
During this first workshop the participants were introduced to the overall goals of the program: to create games about social issues important to them or their community. They began the program by thinking about the role of characters in a game, and started with an activity where they had to draw their favorite character. Then they played a game in which the rest of the group had to guess the character they drew as the drawing was revealed slowly by the presenting group. This led to a discussion about how characters are used in a game, what makes a good character, and the different types of characters such as protagonist and antagonist. 
 
They were a very enthusiastic group who share some of their ideas about creating they own games. Eighteen eager high school students that will use games to express their creative ideas and inform others about a social issue.