As a young graduate, you are off to a good start in your career. Only here: a “red light, childcare” card has just appeared in front of you which complicates your progress. To continue moving forward, you will need to draw a green card from your game, proposing a solution, to calmly move forward and achieve your objective… “Mille pas”, largely inspired by the famous “Mille bornes”, is the ‘one of games which will be demonstrated this Sunday at the second edition of the Engaged Game Market, hosted at the Petit Bain, a floating performance hall at the foot of the François-Mitterrand library (Paris, 13th arrondist).
We have fun, but not only
All in flashy color and striking graphics, “Mille pas” describes the journey always strewn with pitfalls of women in their business. It’s fun, but not only that… The cards were designed using responses to a survey carried out among 700 employees and research into the laws in force and the figures. Each card therefore allows you to learn a little more about discrimination and helps to avoid some pitfalls.
“Basically, the idea came from my partner who had a bar in Paris and who heard a lot of discussions about unhappiness at work. I come from a communications background and I thought that games could be a fantastic medium for raising awareness, training and creating connections. We work a lot with companies, designing tailor-made games. But we are now also reaching the general public,” notes Coralie Franiatte, co-founder of the company Bejoue, and the initiative of the Engaged Gaming Market.
Discrimination at work is of course not the only social issue addressed by these entertainments unlike any other. On site, curious people can try “Moi, c’est madame”, which involves responding to ordinary , “Carboniq”, to learn how to measure and reduce your carbon footprint, or even “the Heart of Zobs”, adapted from a comic book of the same name, on male contraception. “The game provides one essential thing: experience. You have to put yourself in the place of, in empathy. By playing a role, you experience an emotion. There is a stronger dimension there than with writing or images,” believes the creator of “Mille Pas”.
Axelle Gay, also at the head of Éclap, a company which invents and markets this type of entertainment, is just as convinced of the virtues of this vector. “The game will allow us to distance ourselves from reality while remaining within it, but also to address subjects that can be delicate in a relaxed, caring atmosphere, among friends. »
The trend, brand new, is starting to appeal. “There are more and more creators and companies getting started. Last year, there was a continuous flow for the first edition, a family audience. We are therefore launching this second edition, hoping to have at least as much success,” hopes Coralie Franiatte, whose creation sold just under 1,000 copies.
“We reach part of the general public”
“Our game I’m Madam reaches 12,000 sales, and Carboniq reached 5,000. That means that we are reaching a part of the general public,” says Axelle Gay. “When I make a game like that, I know that not everyone is going to buy it,” says the co-founder of Bejoue. People often want fun, to be taken to another universe, and not necessarily brought back to reality. But we work to make our games really fun. While uming that they also exist to make things evolve! »
Committed gaming market, Sunday September 10, from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m., at Petit Bain, 7, Port-de-la-Gare (Paris, 13th arrondist). Free admission.