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When he was young Matteo Menapace spent many afternoons playing video games and learnt to code so he could hack his first game.
So how does a kid playing video games (with a Saturday job making pizzas) turn his hobby into a profession that challenges people to think about the most pressing issues of the era, including climate change?
Matteo studied communication design at university in Italy, followed by an MA at Central St Martin's. He went on to build digital toys for the BBC, teach game design at universities, and make games at the V&A.
As Matteo's fears about climate change grew, so did his realisation that players and fellow designers could put their collective heads together to create solutions to world problems.
These days Matteo works with people and progressive organisations to encourage 'serious' games, where players make policy simulations and consider foresight methods. He switched from video games to board games and co-designed the cooperative board game Daybreak with Matt Leacock. Players aim to stop climate change by decarbonising the global economy, while striving to build a just and safe future for all.
Matteo offers sound advice for anyone who wants to follow the ProGRESS ideals (pro-green, ethical, sustainable, socially responsible), plus he offers strategies for leaving a job that doesn't align with your values.
Among the people Matteo looks up to are Paolo Pedercini aka Molleindustria who lectures at Carnegie Mellon University and Dr Chloe Germaine at Manchester Metropolitan University. He also talks about Elizabeth Magie, the real inventor of the board game Monopoly, which was (and still is) credited to a man.
Listen to hear the philosophy and ethics behind serious games design, why you don't need to have studied graphics, games design or even to have a degree to be a successful games designer and what Matteo does in a typical week.
Matteo Menapace professional website
Matteo's blog
Matteo's Instagram
Matteo's LinkedIn profile
Central St Martin's
Norwich University of the Arts
Games Transformed
Season 5 Episode 5: Connor Cashell, Campaigns officer, Cycling UK
Season 4 Episode 6: Maddie Booth, Sustainability consultant, educator and speaker
Season 4 Episode 3: David Kohnstamm, Chief sustainability officer and co-founder of Leafcloud
Season 1 Episode 7: Rachel Warren, Professor of global change and environmental biology
Season 3 Episode 10: Dr Matthew C. Halteman, Professor of philosophy
