DIP's key interest is the transformation of the global culture and economy and the role that digital culture is playing in that transformation. We also have a keen interest in the Gulf Coast. DIP's Rita J. King spent 2006 working on, “Big, Easy Money: Disaster Profiteering in America's Gulf Coast.” It is the position of DIP that one of the most immediate benefits of the Internet is that it can provide meaningful work to people who live in local communities that lack a thriving economy yet need inhabitants to stay and continue working together toward improved local infrastructure.
Cue: 3DSquared
And so it was that on my second night in Metaplace I ran into an avatar named Joe Castille. Joe found me exploring one of his worlds which had a voice component. The world took text and translated it into voice. (In Metaplace people can create multiple worlds of their own. Metaplace itself does not yet have a voice feature.)
I learned that Joe is based in Lafayette Louisiana and part of an organization called 3DSquared. 3DSquared is a Louisiana-based non-profit dedicated to “workforce development for the game and digital media industry.” It is lead by Spencer Zuzolo, an academic and game developer who splits his time between Lafayette and Austin, where he teaches game design. Joe invited me to the 3DSquared headquarters in Metaplace, a geodesic dome with sleek office furniture and a nice park surrounding it. The place was abuzz with avatars, many of whom, I learned, were interns and students participating in 3DSquared and involved with its parallel venture, GameCamp. As I chatted with the students and Joe, I asked to learn more about why they found Metaplace to be such a robust environment. Joe directed me to Spencer Zuzolo.
Spencer, by phone, has a casual, jolly voice that translates into compelling narrative on the various videos they've posted on Gamecamp's website. He is immensely concerned about the transformation in the economy and how to prepare tomorrow's workforce to adapt to it. “How to engage the students and connect them to parents, teachers and students. Part of it is language,” he explained. And that language lies in the culture of games. From that was sprung the idea of Spencer's other baby, a project of 3DSquared called Gamecamp. Gamecamp is “a summer program for high school and middle school students interested in careers in the video game industry.” Students from all over the US come to Louisiana for an intensive course in game development instruction. Spencer said they already have students coming from China, Europe and possibly, if they can find the time, the Middle East.
But he is firmly committed to the Gulf Coast. “We believe in our work in Louisiana,” Spencer Zuzolo told me. “We believe the problems can be fixed by intertwining this kind of training in a 21st century economy.”
I've been hearing Rita J. King talk about that ever since we've been collaborating on the development of a new global culture and economy. I've seen her give presentations about disaster management, cultural preservation, rebuilding and job development potential through virtual worlds to conference crowds in the Gulf Coast to a mixed response of confusion, irritation and completely rapt fascination. When she heard about 3DSquared's work she announced immediately that we would be setting aside time to work with them.
Next week in Lafayette they are hosting a Digital Workforce Initiative conference in which DIP will be participating. The conference is an opportunity for 3DSquared to explain their work to community and political leaders for whom games are still very foreign, if a necessary evil that their children love.
Joe described how the Gulf Coast, which is not so much in the headlines here in the US, (save for its governor Bobby Jindahl) is still reeling from the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. “We have the largest outmigration of any state in the Nation. And 100,000 skilled labor jobs are unfilled.” That has been a lethal combination on the Louisiana economy.
“We're using metaplace as 'the first rung' of the skill ladder for teaching virtual world development,” Joe told me.
I'm amazed and excited about the work of 3DSquared and Gamecamp. I've since visited dozens of Metaplace worlds created by their students. And the videos on the website are another interesting testament well worth watching.
As we've written before, the best way to engage a culture is to take it on its own terms. 3DSquared and Gamecamp understand that there is a new generational culture developing; a culture which will have effectively grown up on games and the Internet. And the educational system needs to be prepared for how to best communicate with that culture.
Metaplace is an excellent first step.
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