Remember the TEDxKraków Award? We received over 30 applications from people with fascinating ideas for how to change the world around them.
Unfortunately we had to whittle them down to 8 finalists but there were still a few ideas that we really thought should see the light of day so we’ve decided to tell you about a couple. Today we’re introducing the first of these ideas – Krzysztof Kolski‘s and Michał Kamil Kuleszy’s “wioski fabularne” (role-playing villages).
A few words about the creators
Krzysztof loves telling stories and does this every day as a games writer. Sometimes he also tells stories about far-flung adventures at festivals about travelling. His dream is to find out more about games from the Near East and to promote them in Poland as he’s convinced that this is a good way to fight the stereotype of Muslims as a terrorists. His partner in the project, Michał, loves solving problems, playing games and drawing (he created the illustrations for the role-playing village). The pair met at the Collegium Civitas where the “Wioski” (Villages) project was created.
What is an action role-playing village?
Let us introduce you…
Imagine that someone has designed a village in the same way that a screenplay or crime fiction story is created. You have a mission that includes all sorts of obstacles to be overcome. You get into trouble but you manage to find a way out. You have all sorts of adventures, meet colorful characters and solve problems. OK, you may say – it sounds interesting, but what’s it all for?
This is social innovation project based on the idea of role-playing, whose aim is to help in the development of rural areas. As the world urbanises and people move to the cities, rural development is becoming an increasingly important challenge and governments the world over are looking for ways to help people who live in rural areas to find different sources of income. Ideas such as agrotourism are now fairly well known, but this isn’t a solution that will work everywhere – in areas where there are no lakes or forest, there is little chance of agrotourism developing. What’s more, the problems in rural regions arise not only from poverty, but often also from a lack of education and confidence in institutions and even neighbours. Such a complex problem requires a multi-faceted solution.
At its simplest, the role-playing village is an idea that people living in rural areas can use to attract tourists but it aims to achieve more. By encouraging rural residents to become active participants in creating their environment and livelihoods, rather than waiting for someone to come in from the outside and help, it aims to demonstrate that together they can create something of value.
Over the last decade, social activists have created a number of themed villages in Poland with themes that have been chosen to attract tourists and visitors. Krzysztof and Michał want to go a step further – their role-playing villages not only have a theme, but also a full-blooded narrative, like a film or an interactive computer game. All with an important social purpose!
For more information, see http://www.facebook.com/WioskaF