>General information
- Title of the good practice (main title and subtitle, if applicable): Game Tour – Adventure Zone Awaits
- Name of the implementing organization/community: Alternatíva Association
- Organization address: 6724 Szeged, Jakab Lajos street 7
- Contact information (email, phone number): alternativa.egyesulet1993@gmail.com, +36305583946
- Project and/or organization website: https://mediakommando.hu/
- Social media contact:
- Contact details – contact person( s ), project manager, coordinator :
- Name of the implementing organization/community: Alternatíva Association
Carver Alexandra, +36204555646
Presentation of good practice
The direct target group of the project was the 9-18 year old age group. Within this, young people between the ages of 9-14 may be mainly interested in games, and those between the ages of 15-18 may take part in the implementation of the program as volunteers. In addition to the direct target group, we also wanted to provide families with a meaningful, shared weekend experience where children and parents can play together. In addition to all this, we also had the intention of helping the community centers, youth clubs of smaller settlements, and the professionals working in these spaces to organize successful events, so that they can come into direct contact with as many young people as possible who perhaps visit these institutions less often.
Since our organization, the Alternatíva association, provides its mobile youth services mainly in the settlements of Csongrád County, and to a lesser extent in Vojvodina, this was the basis for the territorial delimitation in this project. We implemented the program together with 3-4 settlements of Csongrád County. First, we tested the Game Tour live in a location near Szeged, in Petőfitelep. Due to the proximity, we were able to quickly make up for any unexpected shortcomings. Then came Szatymaz and then Mórahalom. In the first two settlements, the cultural center hosted the event, and in the latter, one of the best-equipped youth centers in the county. We organized the volunteer preparation and project planning workshop before the project, as well as the workshop conference closing the project, in the Csongrád County community space of the New Generation Center (in Szeged) together with the youth coordinator.
The good practice responded to the problem of activating young people to not only live in the online space, but also to move a little outdoors. Knowledge of games that have some kind of developmental effect, be it skill or educational. Community building is also a kind of goal. Strengthening social communication, using games that can only be played locally, there is no online playing option.
During the program, we primarily tried to involve young people living in disadvantaged settlements as volunteers, who after training will be able to plan and implement a game fair or mini festival for young people living in their own settlements, offering playful experience opportunities, similar to a mini Play it game show. With our own organization, volunteers who can be involved, 3-5 local youth workers, and young volunteers delegated by one or two local sector partners, we can start preparing for such a project. This prepared volunteer team of 15-25 people, with the help of the association, informal team mentors and professionals, and our partners, plans the specific outing events and then implements them. We also wanted to strengthen their social competences, but the most important goal was to move them out of situations that are spent exclusively or largely in virtual space, and to strengthen the experiences offered by real communities. In addition to all this, the value creation achieved with digital tools and the help of volunteer mentors can provide a sense of success, thereby increasing the self-esteem of young people. The most important goal of the project is that, with a complex outreach experience service, an event similar to a mini “Play it game show” , which is based on the use of entertainment tools preferred by young people, a specialist working with local youth and a cultural center can reach young people who are very difficult to activate with regular community events. It is worth purchasing consoles and game machines with the games that may interest young people, be it virtual glasses or dance or movement games. These games were the “catch-alls” for young people, many of whom came to these events for this reason. However, if they did come, they were also happy to try out the other activities. They played board and retro games, and tried out the sports and exercise opportunities.
At each such local event, 30-50 young people and their family members can be addressed, many of whom rarely leave the world of virtual communities. The 9-18 year old young people living in disadvantaged settlements targeted by the Game Tour can go through an experiential learning experience, primarily developing ICT and digital competences. Their relationships with each other and their family members can be strengthened.
Since the project is resource-intensive in terms of materials, equipment, money and human resources, it is worth obtaining funding for it. The main resource for our organization was the support of the Children and Youth Fund Program, but this had to be supplemented with other sources, for example, part of the National Cooperation Fund’s grant. We already had some simpler tools, but we could not have solved the problems of new tools, software purchases, travel, material costs, training and catering for volunteers in any other way. It is important to note that the coordinator’s salary was provided by the GINOP 5.2.1 Youth Guarantee Program.
We managed to reach out to and activate a larger group of young people with the volunteer opportunity and by planning the details of the project together with them. A group has formed who are happy to come to events with us and are happy to get involved in the organization’s work helping young people. We received a lot of positive feedback from professionals working in local community spaces, on the one hand, that their role locally was strengthened by this event, and on the other hand, that they would like to organize similar events themselves, with their own volunteer team and together with us, in the future. There were also two settlements where, within the framework of the TOP 5.3.1. and TOP 6.9.2 Strengthening Local Identity and Cohesion projects, community developers and local civil society professionals included a similar event, along with a budget, in the project’s action plan and event calendar. We also received positive feedback from parents who visited the events about the joint games, and they particularly highlighted that in the case of the “trendy” tools, we did not use aggressive games, but cooperative games. It was useful to talk to parents during the program about what games there are that might interest young people and that they would be happy to play with, even with their families, but that have an educational effect on them and are not destructive.
The main visual elements, the flyer and the poster were designed by the Szeged graphic designer of the highly successful comic book Kaliber Joe, who is also a teacher, Roland Piltz , in a form that evokes the game world in which children and young people feel at home and which they recognize as their own. We created separate Facebook events for each event, which we managed and promoted together with our local partners. We uploaded the posts, photos and videos of the events here. A slide – movie was made about the project , which we presented on the YouTube channel of the Alternatíva association. We communicated with the volunteer team in a closed FB group, and there was also a Messenger group, which helped with quick message exchanges. From photo reports to newspaper articles, the results achieved, posters, flyers and the overall visual appearance of such events are clearly visible everywhere. Young people also share similar events with each other. Local media loved to make materials about the happy young people playing together. However, it is important to note that maintaining contact with the press requires special efforts, which we no longer had the energy for. Many were annoyed afterwards that they did not even know about the event, even though they would have liked to make material about it.
Adaptability
Since the project is resource-intensive in terms of materials, equipment, money and human resources, it is worth obtaining funding for it. Our organization received support from the Children and Youth Fund, but this had to be supplemented with other sources, for example, part of the National Cooperation Fund’s grant. We already had some simpler tools, but we could not have solved the costs of new equipment, software, travel, materials, training and catering of volunteers in any other way. It is important to note that the coordinator’s salary was provided by the GINOP 5.2.1 Youth Guarantee Program. Game software ( Frantics , Knowledge is Power , Beat Saber , Just Dance , Kinect Sports , UNO, Game consoles: Playstation 4, Xbox Converters for projectors, TVs , HDMI cables, batteries).
It is worth announcing the event/events in advance, setting a specific time, and indicating in the description that participants will be rewarded with smaller prizes. This will increase the willingness to participate and we can be more certain that there will be people who will visit. If possible, create a stamp collection booklet for the games. Local promotion is also necessary so that locals know about it. In today’s world, news of Facebook events spreads easily and simply, but it is also true that new channels must be used to reach the younger generation. The success of the event can largely be guaranteed by the efforts of the local partner and professional, how and to what extent they mobilize their resources.