The second episode of Season 1 of Enduring Play: A Game Development Podcast, hosted by Game Development Strategy Guide author Cheryl Platz, is now live with guest Carlos Figueiredo, Director of Player Trust and Safety for Mojang Studios/Minecraft and co-founder of the Thriving in Games Group. Today’s conversation brings hope for the future of positive gaming experiences, and is a must-listen for anyone creating multiplayer gaming experiences but also any parents of gamers who are wondering what goes into creating or encouraging safe online gaming experiences.
Key Quotes:
“Prosocial behavior is something that’s actively contributing to a thriving community. When you see a player helping somebody else, that’s really cool. There is that element of community, of a community of belonging. Players take pride in that community and they’re welcoming to other people coming and joining the game. Or maybe they teach other players how to do certain things in the game or they ask other players to play with them and form teams and form bonds and friendship.”
“I really believe that player safety is a discipline of game design. I also use the term player safety, but I think it’s so much broader than what industry usually thinks about. The industry thinks about player safety as dealing with the negative. I think about player safety as an integral part of a thriving community. So it’s more than just designing systems to deal with the negative. It’s also about social features. It’s about the dynamics between the players.”
“A common thing in my career is this strong sense of purpose… I’m talking about Club Penguin and Minecraft and Minecraft Education. Making the world better through the power of games, right? I believe in this. I think that games can really be a very strong, powerful medium. So when you’re considering a career in game development, can you connect something that’s really fundamental about who you are, like your values and your principles to your work?”
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