The promise and potential of games and new media as spaces of learning, social exchange, and civic engagement among youth will not be realized without a shared public agenda addressing the growing problem of toxicity online. While policies and infrastructures have long been in place to assure safe, public playgrounds for kids in the real world, no such approaches exist for the online playgrounds where young people are spending increasing amounts of time.

Raising Good Gamers implicates us all in developing a response: designers, technologists, activists, researchers, funders, academics, parents, and educators. How might we develop and support gaming communities that cultivate empathetic, compassionate, and civically engaged kids? What might it look like to build youth’s socio-emotional capacities to positively shape the climate of gaming clubs and communities? What role can the design of games, gaming communities, and associated technologies play in mitigating abuse? How do we build the foundations of a healthy community directly into the platforms and communities themselves?

Created by Games for Change and the Connected Learning Lab at UC Irvine, the goal of Raising Good Gamers is to create a sustainable movement that can change the culture of online gaming for everyone.

• Child-Centered Policy - The current policy environment is geared toward excluding children as a means to protect them. Policies like the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) place a burden on commercial game developers who lack incentives to design for the interests and developmental needs of children under 13. As a result, children often end up playing on platforms that are not tailored for their healthy development or safety. A fundamental shift in policy can be brought about by 1) greater engagement between members of the game industry and policymakers and legislators who often lack understanding of the importance of games in the lives of children; 2) stronger representation of youth voices at the legislation table, in addition to trade groups and parent groups; and 3) policies that create a safe haven for children’s data so that researchers and other third-party groups can provide an evidence-base to inform the design and moderation of games and their communities.
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• Placing youth voices and experiences at the center of the initiative - Raising Good Gamers joined forces with TED-Ed to offer 30 high school students an opportunity to participate in a TED-Ed Student Talks program focused on Raising Good Gamers themes. The goal was to empower young people to share their stories on video game culture and highlight the pro-social elements that occur online and in a video game. Five finalists were chosen to receive coaching from the TED-Ed team. The talks were presented at the 2021 Games for Change Festival and are now available on the TED-Ed Student Talks Channel.
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• Connecting top researchers with youth-serving organizations to drive innovation. Raising Good Gamers has partnered with Cartoon Network to support their Stop Bullying: Speak Up initiative. The anti-bullying PSA and campaign were created to inspire kids to help make online gaming spaces positive for everyone. In addition to the PSA, Cartoon Network has launched a site with resources co-developed by RGG for kids and adults that will help them navigate situations experienced in online game communities.