On Monday, March 23rd, the Prato Textile Museum hosted “NOT JUST A GAME” , a dissemination event for the i-Game project.
It has been a vibrant multidisciplinary dialogue where the preliminary results of the i-Game journey were put into perspective alongside groundbreaking cross-sector experiences. The event has been an opportunity to share the i-Game project’s progress and its vision for the future of cultural heritage and the power of gamification in different contexts. All the presentations contributed to explore how gamification can act as a universal language for sustainability, education, wellbeing and social impact.
The event featured a distinguished panel of speakers who expanded the horizon of what “play” can achieve:
Cultural innovation: Fabio Viola (TuoMuseo) discussed the evolution of video games as a legitimate artistic language and their strategic role in modern museum curation.
Behavioral change: Gregory Eve (greenApes) showcased how digital incentives and ludic dynamics can trigger real-world sustainable actions within communities.
Educational design: Margherita Tufarelli and Leonardo Giliberti (University of Florence) shared how “Serious Gaming” translates complex issues like consumerism and garment repair into interactive learning.
Social Inclusion and wellbeing: Ester Macrì (ReteSviluppo) told the inspiring story of teenagers building accessible worlds on Fortnite, while Marcello Sarini (University of Milano-Bicocca) explored the clinical and educational benefits of Video Game Therapy.
Also, a highlight was the direct involvement of the youth co-creators presenting the Textile Museum pilot’s preliminary results. These students didn’t just participate in the project’s sessions, they took the stage to personally present the games they helped create. Using the i-Game open-source platform, they demonstrated how a game can effectively communicate the complexities of the textile and fashion industry to their own generation.
Looking ahead, the “NOT JUST A GAME” event confirmed that the intersection of Human-Centered Design and technology development is where real social change can happen. By putting the co-creators at the center of the narrative, i-Game continues to prove that the future of culture is interactive, inclusive, and deeply connected to the challenges of our time. The Textile Museum of Prato looks forward to bringing all these inspiring and valuable insights into the practice of the next stages of the project!
