Lindsay Grace is a

video game designer Video game design is the process of designing the content and rules of video games in the pre-production stage and designing the gameplay, environment, storyline and characters in the production stage. Some common video game design subdiscipline ...

, artist,

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

, and writer who currently lives in

Miami, FL Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at the ...

. He is best known as an academic game designer who employs critical design. He is the 2019 Games for Change Vanguard Award winner and Knight Chair at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

. He served as founding director of the American University Game Lab and Studio (JOLT), which includes the Fake News game, Factitious, the NPR game Commuter Challenge and Miami Herald's Gaming the System. In 2013 his game, ''

Wait Wait or WAIT may refer to: Music * Wait (musician), British town pipers Albums and EPs * ''Wait'' (The Polyphonic Spree EP), by The Polyphonic Spree * ''Wait'' (Emanuel Nice EP), a 2002 EP released by the band Emanuel Nice * ''Wait'' (Stee ...

'' was inducted in the

Games for Change Games for Change (also known as G4C) is a nonprofit organization. The organization provides support, visibility, and shared resources to individuals and organizations using serious games for social change. It also runs the G4C Student Challenge ...

Hall of Fame as one of the five most significant games for change in the last decade. Created in 2009, players must navigate a 3D world that fades away when the player moves, and grows more detailed as they wait. If players fail to move for long, the world also recedes. Other notable games include Big Huggin', a game controlled by a giant stuffed animal that players must hug to meet game goals. Big Huggin' was Kickstarted with notable support from

Jane McGonigal Jane McGonigal (born October 21, 1977) is an American author, game designer, and researcher. McGonigal advocates using mobile and digital technology to channel positive attitudes and collaboration in a real-world context. Biography Early years ...

and selected for the ACM

SIGGRAPH SIGGRAPH (Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques) is an annual conference on computer graphics (CG) organized by the ACM SIGGRAPH, starting in 1974. The main conference is held in North America; SIGGRAPH Asia ...

's Aesthetics of Gameplay Show. Grace has created more than 15 independent games, acting as the sole designer, developer, and artist. He has written articles about this process and supports such activity as one of 8 executive board members organizing the

Global Game Jam The Global Game Jam™️ (GGJ) is an annual distributed game jam. Inspired by the Nordic Game Jam, and created by Susan Gold, Ian Schreiber, Gorm Lai and Foaad Khosmood, originally developed under the International Game Developers Associatio ...

. He also exhibits art internationally and curates exhibits. He co-curated the Indie Arcade 2014 and 2016 events at the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...

. Lindsay Grace has publicly opposed the link between video games and violence.

Career

Grace is Knight Chair at the University of Miami. He is Vice President of both the Global Game Jam and the Higher Education Video Game Alliance. Grace lead the games program at

American University School of Communication The School of Communication (SOC) at American University is accredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications. The school offers six undergraduate majors: communication studies, journalism, public relations ...

in Washington D.C. Grace has published more than 45 academic articles since 2009. He was the C. Michael Armstrong Professor of Creative Arts at Miami University/Armstrong Institute for Interactive Media Studies at

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio (behind Ohio University, founded in 1804) and the 10 ...

where he ran the Persuasive Play Laboratory. He taught

video game design Video game design is the process of designing the content and rules of video games in the pre-production stage and designing the gameplay, environment, storyline and characters in the production stage. Some common video game design subdiscipline ...

interaction design Interaction design, often abbreviated as IxD, is "the practice of designing interactive digital products, environments, systems, and services." Beyond the digital aspect, interaction design is also useful when creating physical (non-digital) produ ...

and theory at American University. He publishes writing and video games that relate the concept of "philosophy of software" and Critical Design as practice in the arts and games. This practice falls between

captology Captology is the study of computers as persuasive technologies. This area of inquiry explores the overlapping space between persuasion in general (influence, motivation, behavior change, etc.) and computing technology. This includes the design, ...

and

critical design Critical design makes aspects of future physically present to provoke a reaction. ''"Critical design is critical thought translated into materiality. It is about thinking through design rather than through words and using the language and structu ...

. The Critical Gameplay games employ theories in the design of video games and society. The work for Critical Gameplay has been shown in more than 15 cities including Athens, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Vancouver, Taipei, Chicago, Paris and Istanbul. It is internationally recognized. Grace's independent video game publications include '' Penguin Roll'', '' Zombie Master'', '' Polyglot Cubed'' and several games under the Mindtoggle Software company. He also writes about games and independent game-making. According to App Annie statistics, his Game Black Like Me was a top 100 game in 3 countries (

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

) by number of daily downloads. In 2008, Grace created '' Polyglot Cubed'' which was recognized at the Meaningful play conference at

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

, was a serious games showcase finalist at the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference IITSEC, and the International Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology. ''

Gamasutra ''Game Developer'', known as ''Gamasutra'' until 2021, is a website founded in 1997 that focuses on aspects of video game development. It is owned and operated by Informa and acts as the online sister publication to the print magazine '' Gam ...

'' ran an article about it. His research includes algorithmic music generation using visual emergent behavior. He is an alumnus of the

Electronic Visualization Laboratory The Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) is an interdisciplinary research lab and graduate studies program at the University of Illinois at Chicago, bringing together faculty, students and staff primarily from the Art and Computer Science depar ...

at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

as well as two degrees from

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

Select publications and exhibits

2005

* Cineme Midwestern Game Developers Conference (2005) - Lecturer *

Westwood College Westwood College was a private for-profit college owned by Alta Colleges Inc. with 15 campus locations in five states and online learning options. Westwood was nationally accredited by the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Scho ...

PAC Curriculum - Advisory committee

2008

* Meaningful play, Michigan State University (2008) - Game Exhibitor * International Conferences on Advances in Human Computer Interaction, Mexico (2009) - A Universally Designed, Device-Independent Email Client

2009

* IITSEC, Orlando, Florida (2009) - Serious Games Showcase * International Conferences on Advancements in Computer Entertainment, Athens, Greece (2009) - Game Exhibitor *

International Digital Media and Arts Association International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

, Ball State University, USA

2010

* CHI (conference), Atlanta, USA

2011

* ISEA, Istanbul, USA * Games, Learning and Society, Wisconsin, USA

2012

Electronic Language International Festival The Festival Internacional de Linguagem Eletrônica (FILE; English: Electronic Language International Festival) is a New media art festival that usually takes place in three cities of Brazil: São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Porto Alegre and it has ...

, São Paulo, Brazil *

Artscape (festival) Artscape is an annual art festival held in the Mount Royal neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland in July. Since its first annual event in 1982, it has become the largest free arts festival in America. It has boasted acts such as Ray Charles, Aretha F ...

, Baltimore, USA *

Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems The ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) series of academic conferences is generally considered the most prestigious in the field of human–computer interaction and is one of the top-ranked conferences in computer science. ...

, Austin, Texas

2013

, New York, USA *

, São Paulo, Brazil * CHI (conference), Paris, France

2014

ArtScience Museum ArtScience Museum is a museum within the integrated resort of Marina Bay Sands in the Downtown Core of the Central Area in Singapore. Opened on 17 February 2011 by Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, it is the world's first ArtScience m ...

, Singapore, Singapore *

, New York, USA *

College Art Association The College Art Association of America (CAA) is the principal organization in the United States for professionals in the visual arts, from students to art historians to emeritus faculty. Founded in 1911, it "promotes these arts and their understa ...

Annual Conference, Cassidy Theater at the

Chicago Cultural Center The Chicago Cultural Center, opened in 1897, is a Chicago Landmark building operated by Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events that houses the city's official reception venue where the Mayor of Chicago has welcomed preside ...

, Chicago, USA

2015

Game Developers Conference The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is an annual conference for video game developers. The event includes an expo, networking events, and awards shows like the Game Developers Choice Awards and Independent Games Festival, and a variety of tutori ...

, "In the Hearts of Players: Affection Games and Mobile Love" (March 2015),

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, "Education Soapbox" (March 2015),

SXSW South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Te ...

, "Gaming 4 Gov Impact" (March 2015),

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

2016

, "Community Engagement at the Intersection of Games and News" (March 2016),

, "Who Owns What and Why? Student IP, Faculty IP, and Game Design Programs" (March 2016),

Online News Association The Online News Association (ONA), founded in 1999, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization located in Washington D.C., United States. It is the world's largest association of digital journalists, with more than 2,000 members. The majority of ONA ...

, Keynote "What Journalists Can Learn from Game Designers About Engagement" (April 2016),

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

2017

, "It's not all about unicorns, sustainable diversity in the classroom" (March 2017),

2018

, "Cuba, Nairobi, Borneo-Oh My, Creating Games Education Very Abroad" (March 2016),

2019

Grace, Lindsay D. (2019). Doing Things with Games: Social Impact Through Play. CRC Press. . Retrieved August 22, 2019.

2020

Grace, L. (2020). Love and Electronic Affection: A Design Primer (editor/author), Routledge Press, . Retrieved September 28, 2020. Grace, L. and Huang, K. State of Newsgames 2020 (from Games for Change: https://g4c2020.sched.com/event/cj9a/newsgame-flyby-state-of-the-practice-2020). Report at Retrieved September 29, 2020

2021

Grace, Lindsay (2021): Black Games Studies. Carnegie Mellon University ETC Press. Book. https://doi.org/10.1184/R1/17100431.v1

References

External links

Lindsay Grace's websitePublications by Grace

University of Miami Faculty Profile

The Critical Gameplay Project

ACM Portal Publications List

Article by Lindsay Grace

Review of his Make Me an Offer Art Show

Play Committee Members

List of Global Game Jam Original Organizers

Gamasutra Article about Lindsay Grace