Gauntlet 2023 Beneficiary- Game to Grow
If you’re looking to learn more about the beneficiary for this years’ Gauntlet, Game to Grow, you’re in luck! Last week, Gamers Engaged sat down with Adam D Davis, the co-founder and principal architect of the Game to Grow Method of Therapeutically Applied Role-Playing Games. With a degree in drama therapy from Antioch University Seattle, Adam has provided training to hundreds of professionals in TA-RPG and spoken to thousands about applied gaming. Here’s our interview with Adam!
Gamers Engaged (GE): Why is Game to Grow’s work important?
Adam: Our work is important because we are using games to support individuals in our groups to achieve goals, develop insight, and connect with others. Games like Dungeons & Dragons have historically been perceived in a negative light, and it’s important to remove the stigma from games because they are such a great tool for learning, connection, and growth. We want to bring supportive gaming to every clinic, classroom, home, and hospital!
GE: How impactful do you think funds from The Gauntlet will be for Game to Grow?
Adam: Additional funds will help us expand our scholarship funds for groups, make our training programs more accessible for teachers and students, and partner with more hospitals to reach more hospitalized youth!
GE: What aspects of your programming are you most proud of?
Adam: I am most proud of the feedback we get from our youth participants. When we get feedback from kids in our hospital program, for example, like a participant sharing that seeing other kids in similar situations playing and smiling lifted their spirits. Or when a participant in one of our after-school groups shared that “playing my character taught me how to love myself.”
GE: Who is your target audience/participant?
Adam: Anyone who is looking to become more confident, creative, and socially capable. Many of the youth and adults we serve live with challenges associated with Autism, ADHD, social anxiety, or depression. Our model honors neurodiversity, never assuming a deficit that needs to be corrected, and we also offer groups for hospitalized youth, youth in the foster care system, and LGBTQ+ youth.
GE: How can the gaming community participate in your work?
Adam: Our mission is to make the world better through games. People in the gaming community can participate in our mission by making sure their games are safe, inclusive, supportive, and fun. They might be surprised how much people need it! Take it one step farther and invite someone you don’t know to play a game with you. Brighten someone’s day and you never know…it might change both of your lives!
GE: How does Critical Core stand out amongst other RPGs?
Adam: It’s so much more than an RPG! Critical Core is a “beginners’ box” for the intentional application of RPGs. The kit contains a simplified rule set designed to be accessible to not only neurodivergent players, but also to facilitators new to the GM role. It also contains a facilitators guide with best practices honed over a decade of practice and three battle-tested adventure modules used in Game to Grow groups!
We built Critical Core to solve the problem of therapists who wanted to use applied RPGs but didn’t know how to do it! It is designed to teach anyone how to facilitate therapeutically applied role-playing games.
GE: What is the most surprising thing you’ve learned since founding Game to Grow?
Adam: It continues to surprise me how important our work is and how universally applicable our method is. We were founded to support neurodivergent youth, but what our groups do is help people feel connected and included and that, it turns out, is a universal human need. The lockdowns and social restrictions of COVID-19 revealed just how lonely so many of us already were, and that has only reinforced how important inclusive and socially supportive group gaming experiences can be for people of all ages.
Game to Grow is the beneficiary for The Gauntlet: Fables, which takes place at Mox Boarding House: Bellevue on Sunday, May 21. You can learn more about this year’s Gauntlet here!
