CMU showcases games and learning at GenCon 2022

The CMU Center for Learning through Games and Simulations (CLGS) was a community partner of GenCon 2022, the largest gaming convention in North America. Founded in 1967, GenCon has tens of thousands of attendees annually, with over 50,000 people in attendance this year. As community partners, the CLGS was able to have a table set up at the convention to promote CMU and all that the CLGS has to offer, including the Central Michigan University Press, online classes, and the Game Design Thinking minor offered at CMU.

The Central Michigan University Press is the only peer-reviewed tabletop gaming press, meaning that all the games that it prints are held to rigorous academic standards, including a double-blind peer review. The Press released its first game, Monumental Consequence, last year, and will be crowdfunding its next game, Rising Waters, beginning at the end of August. Additionally, the CLGS was able to playtest a third new game, Five Hundred Year Old Vampire, demonstrate The Hydrologic Cycle Game, created by CMU professor Wendy Robertson, Ph.D., and run a session of Monumental Consequence for attendees to play.

The CLGS also worked with GenCon to introduce online classes for an Applied Game Design Certificate. These classes are taught by board game industry experts supported by CMU and will be online and synchronous, allowing students to directly interact with these experts. The official launch of these classes was at GenCon on August 5th, and a full slate of classes will be presented in the 2022-2023 academic year.

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