One of the inspirations for Econia was this TED talk by Harvard Professor Lawrence Lessig. After seeing his presentation I started wondering how I could communicate these issues through games. A few days after launching the Econia kickstarter, Lessig ended his Presidential campaign. So, at least we’re in good company.
We knew going into the campaign that things would be tough. Econia is too serious to capture the attention of today’s gaming-culture, and the political sphere is still rather dismissive of games. With Econia we hoped to bridge the gap, but we knew it was an uphill battle.
Launching during the Democratic Primary seemed like the perfect time. This is when the United States is debating whether we will be championing bold ideas to improve our society, or the business as usual “at least we’re not the Republicans”.
Indeed, we managed to reach a lot of passionate people, each trying to change the world in their own way. BUT. At a time when the stakes are so high, when we’re debating issues of terrorism and refugees, of healthcare and education, it is very difficult to get the media to pay attention to a game.
Senator Sanders has said many times that we cannot hope now to elect one man and then consider our work done. Rather we must build a political movement that will not rest until we once again have a government that serves the people. Lord knows such a war will not be won without a few battles lost along the way.
We’re working on figuring out what the next steps are for Econia. In the immediate future we’re looking forward to spending time with friends and family for the holidays. No matter what lies ahead, rest assured you haven’t heard the last from us!
