Eden’s William Sharpels knows how to engage our nation’s business leaders and politicians – talk to them about gaming in regional areas.
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Earlier this month Mr Sharpels took to the podium at Parliament House in Canberra to speak to our nation’s leaders about the importance of game development in rural and regional Australia.
“I had over 500 people including politicians and prominent business people laughing and engaged about game development in rural Australia. This type of thing is not an everyday occurrence,” Mr Sharpels said.
Mr Sharpels was selected as one of 16 regional youth leaders to participate in a five-day trailblazers lab as part of ABC’s Heywire regional youth campaign.
He was selected due to his work establishing the Eden Game Development Centre.
In May 2017 Mr Sharpels secured funding through a Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal grant to set up the centre in Eden.
“I wanted to build something that could empower disadvantaged and disengaged kids,” Mr Sharpels said.
“The skills acquired through gaming are immensely valuable and build communities.”
Mr Sharpels hoped to encourage political and business leaders to think differently about gaming and its ability to built capacity in our region’s youth.
His speech focused on gaming’s global reach and the opportunities inherent in investing in a diverse and growing industry.
“Video games have a stigma of being just a toy for nerdy kids… but globally it is bigger than the box office and the music industry combined,” he said.
By using his work with the centre as an example, Mr Sharpel also stressed that gaming is not all about “economics and technical computer skills”.
“I still remember the first time I helped a kid with an issue then went to help another kid then turning around to see the initial kid helping the kid next to him solve that issue,” he said.
“Then I've been noticing it ever since every lesson.”
Mr Sharpels’ experience as a youth trailblazer has provided him with the contacts and impetus to move forward with his important community work
“I was happy to be there and meet people,” he said. “It was a great opportunity to connect with people and generate contacts that I can bring back to the centre.”
It was also an opportunity to keep pushing for change.
“If you change nothing, nothing will change. Choose something new, and change will happen,” Mr Sharpels said.