More than fun?

The first line on this webpage about Avant Gaming reads: "Well, nobody ever said that games had to be fun."

It goes on: "Avant Gaming...seeks to identify and catalog games, and related resources, that challenge and subvert mainstream gaming conventions. It is our hope that through these actions we will be able to call attention to this movement as a whole and further motivate the alternative gaming community."

That's right. Another game "movement." The last, apparently, in the three that seemed to occupy us this week. And this one isn't about fun, but about games as vehicles for learning, for change, for everything else, also.

Avant Gaming is not the first initiative to explore games that are designed for something more than fun. Take a look at the list of games considered Avant enough, and compare that with the list of Team Building Activities, Initiative Games & Problem Solving Exercises, or perhaps some of Thiagi's collection of Training Games. Avant Gaming is part of a long tradition of educators and visionaries who who have devoted themselves to the transformative power of play, to games as tools for change. But Avant Gaming is newer, and, consequently, more centered in technology, and, therefore, perhaps has a slightly better chance to catch the attention of modern educators and social entrepreneurs. As long as they don't lose sight of the fact that no matter how successful their games are in "subverting mainstream gaming conventions," a game is a game is a game. It can be educational. It can be life changing. But if it's not fun, forget it.