Our Thoughts
A Wicked Glossary
At Wicked Saints, as our name suggests, we buck tradition. We challenge social and industry norms. We don't buy the whole "that's just the way things are" bit. What do we mean? For example, the belief that a game can't be both fun and good. Why not? Who said? Who made that rule?
We ask these questions often. It applies beyond the industry to larger societal beliefs. Society teaches us that in order for someone to win, someone else has to lose–in politics, business, life–but what if that's not true? What would happen if we switched our goal from “make them lose" to “make them an ally”? Let’s solve a problem? Or prevent harm? It would change the way we treat each other.
What if options extend far beyond fight or flight? What if bad things–violence, poverty, division–are not as inevitable as we've been led to believe? What if we can use rapidly advancing technology like XR and gaming to provide high entertainment AND help you live a better life?
As a Black/female-led game studio, we already break the mold. Why conform when we come with an extraordinary vantage point baked-in? So, we're making a new playbook. We’re turning preconceived notions on their head–challenging the status quo.
We're starting with this glossary. Enjoy!
Fork the Metaverse
That's right. Fork it. In blockchain, a “fork” happens whenever a community makes a change to the protocol. The chain splits—producing a second chain that shares all of its history with the original but is headed off in a new direction. Now with the rapid advancement in technology like Web3, AI, and XR like Apple Vision Pro, it feels like utopia is within our reach – virtual worlds where we don’t just play and chat, but live.
But what happens when technology takes us further from reality. Farther away from authentic human connection? Since 2012*, mental health has steadily been declining for young people. So when we say "F" the metaverse, we’re saying fork it. Change directions from abandoning a broken world and instead use all this mind-blowing tech to take those broken pieces and build a better one.
*National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH)
Real Fantasy
It's a new genre of games. Players aren't just pretending to be a hero–they're actually becoming one. Completing real-life actions powers players’ ability to play and win the game.
Blended Reality
Blended reality is one more dimension beyond "mixed reality" (XR) because it includes real-life quests. You're simulating the action of picking up trash–you are actually picking up trash and cleaning your neighborhood. Our game has play that’s digital, AR, geolocated, and integrated with the real world to make tanigble impact.
Common Ground Activism
It’s human nature to seek comfort in familiarity. But, we’ve become heavily divided due to our inability to deal with differences, preventing progress on every issue humanity faces: poverty, climate change, discrimination, the list goes on. We need our perceived enemyto join us in making lasting change. Turning enemies into allies is not easy, but it's effective. Common Ground Activism is about attacking the problem, not the person. It comes from a niche practice of Conflict Resolution called Conflict Transformation. Conflict Transformation gets people to focus on their shared interests, needs, and humanity instead of their separate positions.
True Peace
The absence of conflict is not peace. It may be repression and injustice, or the lack of freedom. Peace is not weak or passive. It is problems being addressed and fixed. It comes with trust and safety. True peace is just peace for all.
Good Conflict
Conflict is a normal part of being human. It is an indicator that there is a problem and an opportunity to fix that problem. It’s when we handle conflict badly that it turns destructive. So the goal is not to stop or avoid conflict, but to use it as an opportunity for positive change. At Wicked Saints, we try to live our values. When we listen, seek to understand, and celebrate our differences, it supercharges our collective power to innovate.
Violence
Violence occurs when conflict is handled poorly. We want to prevent and stop violence (aka destructive and violent conflict). This includes physical, emotional, structural, and ultimately social violence.
The Social Side of Mental Health
Mental health is often treated as an individual issue, but much of the anxiety and self-doubt we experience comes from dealing with people. An 80-year-long Harvard study just came out saying that positive, close relationships keep you mentally and physically healthy and are better predictors of a long and happy life than social class, IQ, or even genes.
The CDC recently shared that 57% of teen girls feel persistently sad, hopeless, and alone. Social anxiety is crippling. Conflict is devastating. Judgment is impossible to face. We believe we can use games to reduce the need for mental health interventions by empowering young people to confidently gain skills and tools, improve relationships, and pursue their dreams.
Self-Efficacy
Self-efficacy is the belief in your ability to accomplish a goal. Social Cognitive Theory says it's the number one indicator whether or not someone will take action. We found that a big reason why more people don't take action on issues they are passionate about is because they don't believe they can make a difference. We believe you can. We need you to believe you can. Built into games is a core loop, where every time you go around the loop, you get better. You're gaining mastery. And mastery is how you start building self-efficacy.
Adventure Activism
Players get to embark on thrill seeking adventures where they have the power to change the world, the universe even – all while having the time of their lives! But that immense change isn’t translated into reality; not for a lack of power, but a feeling of hopelessness. That’s why we’re bringing imagination, camaraderie, fun and adventure into activism. We recognize that if saving the world isn't fun, no one will do it.
Real-World Partnerships
We are looking to partner with real-life change-makers who care about making the world a better place. We'll be crowdsourcing IRL missions from players and partnering with NGOs, influencers, and brands doing good in the world to amplify the impact of our players’ real world actions.
Long story short: we're rebels with a cause. And we're always looking for more unique souls to join our ranks! Join our Discord for more.