Ken Eklund

Ken Eklund

Portrait of Ken Eklund, Writerguy

Ken Eklund
Born May 17, 1957
San Francisco, California, United States
Pen name Writerguy
Occupation Game designer, game experience designer
Alma mater Santa Clara University
Website
www.writerguy.com

Ken Eklund (born May 17, 1957) is an American game and experience designer known as Writerguy. He is perhaps most famous for World Without Oil, an early "serious game" in the alternate reality game genre[1] he created and ran in 2007.[2] His recent projects "explore the positive social effects of collaborative experiences and open-ended, creative play.[3] "

Philosophy

Eklund creates immersive games that intend to have a socially relevant, transformative effect[4] and to be informal learning experiences[5] and crowdsourcing for good.[6] Much of his recent transmedia[7] work explores how contributing to 'authentic fictions' (real-seeming yet fictional stories) engages people directly in real-world issues by allowing them to have fun collaborating on storymaking, positive solutions and action.[8] He speaks on how to use alternate reality experiences and other playful "what if?" spaces in pursuit of serious goals[9] and the potential for gamelike activities to help solve global problems.[10]

Selected Games and Interactive Projects

[12]

Awards and Honors

Date Award Reference
2008 South by Southwest Interactive - Award for Activism for World Without Oil SXSW Interactive Awards, past winners (scroll to or search for "2008 Activism Category")
2008 The Webby Award, finalist, Games category, for World Without Oil webbyawards.com/2008
2008 Zero1.org, Honorable Mention, for World Without Oil 2nd Biennial 01SJ Festival announcement of awards
2008 Stockholm Challenge, Honorable Mention, for World Without Oil Stockholm Challenge Event 2008 Finalists
2011 22nd Annual MUSE Awards, Games and Augmented Reality category, Silver, for Giskin Anomaly American Association of Museums (AAM), (scroll to or search on "Giskin")

References

  1. "ITVS Press Release for "World Without Oil"". Independent Television Service (ITVS).
  2. McGonigal, Jane (2011). Reality Is Broken. The Penguin Press. pp. 304, 305, 310. ISBN 978-1-59420-285-8.
  3. "LunchtimeTalk: Ken Eklund on Transmedia For Change". Watershed. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
  4. Weiler, Lance (March 3, 2009). "Culture Hacker: An Interview with Ken Eklund". Workbook Project. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
  5. "ARGs in the Service of Education - interview with Ken Eklund". THINKtransmedia. 29 November 2010. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
  6. Möller, Patrick (15 July 2009). "15 Questions to Ken Eklund". ARG-Reporter.de. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
  7. Rees, Diane (February 3, 2012). "Transmedia: A new instructional literacy". Instructional Design Fusions. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
  8. British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) (May 2, 2013). "Ken Eklund presents "Play It Live It Shape It: Exploring Authentic Fiction"". Retrieved 4 September 2013.
  9. Games For Learning Institute at NYU (June 2011). "8th Annual Games for Change Festival". gamesforchange.org. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
  10. Butterworth, Alex (May 2013). "State of Play". BBC Radio. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
  11. Michael Andersen "Reinventing Education For The Disaffected With Ed Zed Omega" Wired Aug 21, 2012
  12. Mike Janssen, "With young actors, Localore’s interactive Ed Zed Omega critiques education system" Current.org, November 2, 2012

External links