Nichol Bradford - A True Leader with a True Calling
Sometimes we stand beside greatness. Nicole Bradford, the Global Director of Strategic Growth for Vivendi Games appears to be one of those great souls who knows the value of commitment, and how to sell a good idea.
On Wednesday, Ms. Bradford announced an initiative that game developers need to help students. In her eyes, an mine, it’s a match made in heaven: Good developers needs practical knowledge of Math, Science, Communication, and Art. Our schools need mentors from community members - role models - to help students learn practical skills.
But this is also self serving, and not just in the “We get smart students.” There’s a political battle going on, and just like when politicians point at Booze, or Drugs, or Iraqis, saying “America is under attack”. This battle frequently involves GAMES. We’re too violent. Or corrupting the youth. Or just plain not good for kids, because we all know that our children should play innocent games like Ring Around the Rosie, or Chess, or Cowboys and Indians.
Now, I know *I* may have a problem when I volunteer to present Heresy.com games to children, but others in our industry don’t. I can offer my services to the more enlightened teachers and schools, maybe academies or colleges.
Bottomline, Ms. Bradford rocks, and deserves our support. I encourage all of you to offer her your assistance.



“…we all know that our children should play innocent games like Ring Around the Rosie, or Chess, or Cowboys and Indians.”
I think you’re being sarcastic here, but I can’t tell for sure. I mean, I know that ring around the rosie is a game about dealing with plague, and that chess is a highly abstracted war simulation, and that cowboys and indians is a tactical simulation of what happens in asymmetric warfare, and I assume that you do too, but I have a nagging doubt that everyone else reading this got it. Oh well, maybe I’m just dense about how dense I am.
March 15th, 2007 | #
Heh. Not to mention that Cowboys and Indians is probably extremely racist to boot. So, yeah, I’m being a little sarcastic.
March 15th, 2007 | #