Video games aren't just for kids. This is demonstrated by Gonzalo Frasca, a 38-year-old professor of Video games from the School of Communication and Design and holds a Ph.D. in the field from the IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark; he has designed children’s video games for companies such as Cartoon Network, Disney, and Warner Bros. He has also produced video games related to current events.
Who is the Bachelor's Degree in Animation and Video Games designed for?
It’s a degree program with a distinctly aesthetic mission: to make this world a more beautiful place, filled with colorful little monkeys that move around and do things. It’s a degree in entertainment that seeks the social good of entertaining, of making our time on this earth more bearable. That’s no small feat.
What kind of job prospects can a graduate expect?
The range of possibilities is wide. Basically, working in video, film, animation, special effects, and video game development companies. But the key is also to plant the seed of entrepreneurship in their minds. We don’t expect all students to start their own businesses, but I believe it would do Uruguay a world of good to stop viewing diplomas as vouchers for a job and instead see them as tools for building a better future on both a personal and collective level.
Is it possible to design video games from Uruguay?
Hundreds of video games released over the past decade provide an affirmative answer to that question.
Is the video game industry viable in Uruguay?
Of course it already is: there are several studios. The problem with Uruguay is its size and the scale of investments and companies. I think we also need to be clear about what kind of games we want to and can make. It’s similar to what happens in the audiovisual industry. It doesn’t make much sense to try to compete in the film industry against Harry Potter. The Uruguayan video game industry is waiting to find its own Whisky or 25 Watts. I think it’s going to happen in the coming years.
In an article you published in English in 2000, you address the question of why no one has created a video game that takes a humanistic approach to the Holocaust of the Jewish people. You state that: "In the eyes of a Holocaust survivor, a computer game can be seen as something even more monstrous than a neo-Nazi game." Why is that?
Fortunately, the world has changed a lot since 2000, although there are still prejudices against the game because it allows players to “play with fire.” The subject of the Holocaust is a sensitive one in all media: Spielberg wasn’t allowed to use the actual concentration camps for filming because people feared he’d turn it into an Indiana Jones movie or something similar, so he ended up filming in studios. There is a prejudice that games trivialize history, but personally I believe the opposite is true. It is a powerful learning tool that allows us to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes. I believe that in the medium term it will become the ideal complement to literature, which, until now, has dominated the educational system.
What is the secret to making video games accessible to people of all ages and socioeconomic backgrounds?
Understanding Children. We need to pay close attention to what children play and how they do it. The problem is that we adults tend to forget. Throughout history, children—whether rich or poor—have shared ways of having fun, regardless of the cost of their toys. If we pay attention to them, we can better understand adult play. Play is a big part of what makes us human.
Which video game do you consider to be the best one you've produced?
It depends; hopefully the next one. Every project is like a child: you love it, you're proud of some things, and disappointed by others.
Together with their team, they created the website newsgaming.com, where they published video games related to the most relevant news stories of the moment. Why did they decide to launch this initiative?
For several months, we were out of work and looked for something to do.
What impact did your games have—the one about the attack at Madrid’s Atocha station and the one that attempts to recreate the U.S. response to the attacks in New York, titled *12th September*?
The impact was immense. The Madrid game made the front page of the New York Times’ online edition. Sept12 had millions of players and, at the time, sparked both passionate criticism and support. As time went on, it aged well and was viewed more dispassionately. Last year, the Knight Foundation, one of the world’s leading journalism foundations, presented us with a Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of our pioneering work in video games and news.
How do people react when you tell them you have a PhD in video games?
I don't mention it very often. Honestly, most of the time I don't even think about it. Now that I'm back working at the university, I'm a little more aware of it. But in general, ordinary people find it entertaining and think it's funny. I think it has a bit more of an impact on my role as a video game developer. It gives my clients (Warner Bros., Disney, Cartoon Network, among others) some peace of mind knowing they can entrust such a delicate task—dealing with literally tens of millions of players—to someone with a solid academic background.