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Jesse Schell On Serious Games @ Serious Play 2013


Jesse Schell not “only” delivered the pre-conference workshop talk Secrets of Amazing Transformational Games and the keynote address What Games Are Good At that kicked off the 2013 Serious Play Conference last week, but he is also one of the gold medal winners of the International Serious Play Awards competition with the "Serious Game" Play Forward: Elm City Stories in the Healthcare/Medical category.

Yale’s Play2Prevent initiative has partnered with Schell Games and Digitalmill to develop the game for the iPad, aimed at preventing HIV infection among ethnic minority adolescents.

Elm City Stories immerses teens in the various consequences of their actions and how thinking differently and implementing new behaviors could be the difference to leading a healthy, HIV free life. In the game, players navigate through an interactive world encountering a series of life-altering choices along the way.

Currently in the first round of clinical trials, the game is on the path for release next spring.


Working together with leading researchers in various forms of behavior change and social impact game experts, Elm City Stories aims to show teens through repeated reliving of certain life events, that the right decisions can be made to promote a healthier, risk free, lifestyle.