I was visiting Outreached Arms, a homeless outreach mission in the First Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, with a game design team from the G-Mites Game Design class at Seton LaSalle. Two of the game designers were high school boys from China. We were asking Rob, one of the leaders of the of the program, about his ideas with the story and messages of the game. He pulled out his phone and used Google Translate to clarify a statement with our two Chinese students. They laughed at its use, realizing it was accurate for our purposes that night.
Wow, we live in an age where a Pittsburgh homeless director carries easy access to a translation program in his pocket (with one button access to speak to whoever comes in lost in need of a meal), where students from China can spend a few weeks in the United States attending camps on artificial intelligence and game design, and where a small team of 5th-12th graders can build a game for the internet in a week. It’s amazing!
