Boy Scouts add Game Design merit badge

Announced in May last year, the Boy Scouts of America today introduced a new badge, for Game Design Merit. Fancy that.

Stating that "games are an important element in every culture around the globe," the Boy Scouts announced that the badge can be earned by boys once they have designed, iterated on, tested and and built a prototype game. This can be a board or card game, a dice game, or even a mobile game.

The Scout puts his newfound knowledge to use by designing a game and creating a design notebook for this project. In his notebook, the Scout must demonstrate an initial concept, multiple design iterations based on initial testing, and feedback from blind testing. Once his concept is approved, the Scout can begin to build a prototype of his game. Testing of a Scout's game can be done at Scouting functions such as camp outings. For his game design, he can choose from a wide range of media, from cards to boards, dice, and even designing a smartphone application.

The organisation, which has had its fair share of controversy over the last few years, has often been accused of failing to move forward on social issues. Let's hope this is one of many steps forward.

One Response to “Boy Scouts add Game Design merit badge”

1. Girl Scouts add video gaming merit patch « Player Attack says:

   April 17, 2013 at 8:35 pm

   [...] new patch (similar to one introduced recently for the Boy Scouts) brings "something unique" to young girls, who may be interested in Science, Technology, [...]

   Reply

Article Details

• published: March 7th, 2013
• by: Liam Esler
• in: Boy Scouts of America
• comments: 1

Author Bio:

'Sup world! My cats and I are avid gamers, modders and sometime game developers, and we struggle to function without copious amounts of caffeine.

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