Time.news – Four days dedicated to gaming, including training, fun, future, science, dissemination, gender equality, work (read soft skills). In the Cinecittà studios, in via Tuscolana 1055 in Rome, it’s time for RomeVideoGameLab, an event scheduled from 3 to 6 November. A festival where there is something for everyone: from primary and secondary school children who will have coding workshops and the finals of the national civics competition in Minecraft, to the little ones who will be offered insights on videogame apps, coding and laboratories scientific, up to video game enthusiasts who will find a collection of original retrogaming and arcade games, the games that have made the history of the sector.
The gaming market in Italy has 160 companies and 1600 employees (of which 79% are under 36 years old). Overall, the sector has a turnover of 2.2 billion euros (2020 data). 43% of the Italian population between 6 and 64 years old plays; 56% male and 44% female; only 17% of women work in the gaming industry. 66% of video games released on the Italian market in 2020 are suitable for audiences between 3 and 12 years old.
The Metaverse
Now in its fifth edition, dedicated this year to the relationship between “Natural and Metanatural”, the RomeVideoGameLab review enters the heart of the theme of the moment: the Metaverse will be the protagonist of the “Cinema and NFT” exhibition, curated by Simone Arcagni, of the lectio magistralis, also curated by Arcagni, “What is the Metaverse”, and field tests of Virtual and Augmented Reality.
Video games, with their ability to simulate real-world environments, constitute one of the ideal environments of the Metaverse in which users can interact with each other in a three-dimensional virtual space. “The video game industry – explained Giovanna Marinelli, RomeVideoGameLab editorial director – was among the first to approach the Metaverse, bringing users to meet and interact with each other within a virtual and immersive reality”.
From gaming to scientific research
If we get out of the idea that gaming is only console and shooter, we open the door to something different: applied games. “Not just entertainment, but learning and practicing a skill”, elements that can favor the “involvement and motivation of students”.
From here to research the step is short. In this sense, the RomeVideoGameLab program gives space to a series of laboratories with a focus on scientific research (in collaboration with the National Research Council – CNR and the Italian Institute of Technology in Genoa), on fashion, on agri-food, on biotechnologies. and on the use of robots in search of a new and intelligent way to use innovations and interactions between man and machine.
Esports and the skills to work
Would you ever think that esports, competitive and professional level video game competitions, are useful for training soft skills, those above all human skills that companies desperately need?
“Esports – explains Marinelli – like video games, favor the development of soft skills, such as teamwork, communication and leadership skills. Through video games you can increase your problem-solving skills, while e-sports are used in particular to improve collaboration and decision-making ”.
Here, this edition of Romevideogamelab will host semifinals and finals of the First School League E-sports for secondary school students. Scientific partner, Telefono Azzurro. Because, according to Marinelli, the association is strongly oriented “to focus on the issue of adequate protection of minors on the Internet: according to the president Caffo, legislation is needed that addresses the great issue of young people who become active workers on the Internet”.
Esports in Italy
The numbers tell us that the sector is not marginal. According to the latest Report on e-sports in Italy, 475,000 people follow e-sports events daily and about 1,620,000 (+ 15% compared to July 2020) if we also consider those who follow an e-sport event more times a week (e-sport fans). These are mainly men, with an average age of 27, with a level of education and an income above the average of the population.
The passion for e-sports appears to be lasting for avid fans (34% have followed them for at least three years), who spend an average of 4.6 hours a week, of which 62% of the fan base from 2 to 7 hours per week.
New tools for the energy transition
“The new technologies make it possible to develop materials, techniques and projects to combat climate change and anthropogenic impact on ecosystems, companies embrace environmental sustainability as a value and the video game becomes a tool for communicating and promoting sustainable futures. And this is perfectly in line with Cinecittà’s commitment to the energy transition, so much so that the festival will be carbon neutral “. With this premise, the event will focus on the energy and digital transition with themed video games and workshops by experts and researchers.
Gender equality and Stem subjects
Between the Metaverse and laboratories, there is also space for proposals aimed at empowering women through the presentation of a video game that promotes scientific subjects, a panel on the theme “Women in the Metaverse” and a special issue of the comic series of the National Research Council dedicated to mathematics. Iranian Mirzakhani Maryan.
“50% of Italian women – underlined Marinelli – do not have a job: services and new skills are needed in strategic and innovative sectors, such as artificial intelligence and industry 5.0. We will investigate the opportunities created by virtual worlds and video games to understand which ones can offer women the opportunity to dismantle stereotypes and reduce gaps “.