I’m Patrick Stephens and I’m the founder of Guild of Imagination, a haven of safe online gaming for kids. For years I’ve been immersed in worlds full of dragons, dungeons and… gorillas. What kind of gaming? Well, we offer Dungeons and Dragons for all kids to explore their creativity and enhance their social skills. We also offer VR games for kids to practice how to be great digital citizens and overcome social anxiety. Through all of this, creative development for kids is our focus in every class and club we offer.
Dungeons & Dragons has been a cornerstone of my life since I was ten years old. My uncle was the first to introduce me to the game way back then, and I was immediately immersed in the fantastic worlds of the game. At that time, I didn’t really know how to play, but it didn’t matter much because none of my friends had any interest in learning it. Even tougher for a ten-year-old in 1994 was the fact that YouTube wasn’t a twinkle in tech’s eye, and so I couldn’t even watch someone play.
I didn’t know it back then, but D&D was going to have a huge role in my lifelong creativity. It was through this game that I found my passion in performance storytelling and entrepreneurship. Dungeons & Dragons is one of those games that builds confidence and provides safe online gaming for kids. It may be THE game for that. Through talking with others in your group, negotiating with the Game Master and working as a team to overcome obstacles, Dungeons and Dragons builds lifelong skills.
Interestingly, VR has been a dream of mine for just about as long as D&D has been in my life. Many devices had come out over the years, from the Nintendo Virtual Boy to the Samsung Gear VR, but it wasn’t until 2020 when I purchased the Oculus Quest 2 and played A Township Tale that the dream was fulfilled for me. Up until then VR was a static, lonely experience that showed promise, but was missing something. In A Township Tale I was able to hang out with my friends, go on adventures and live in a different world. In this game I realized that kids could build social skills through gaming in VR.
I decided to bring VR to Guild of Imagination with this in mind. Week after week we would explore, socialize, use our creativity and learn. That’s what most people don’t realize with video games; these are educational games for children. Kids learn economy, resource management, negotiation and problem solving. Most importantly, we teach them how to be great virtual citizens. Technology isn’t going anywhere, in fact, it is only going to become more prevalent in our kids’ lives. So, teaching them how to be kind to others, virtually, is a great way to encourage teamwork and provide safe online gaming for kids.
Our mission at Guild of Imagination is to empower kids to explore their creativity, embrace diverse perspectives and encourage lifelong curiosity through immersive experiences. It is my belief that these games and experiences can bring kids together like no other medium and help them appreciate and respect others, even if they don’t always agree. We teach problem-solving skills through these games that will be useful as kids grow older and move into a world and workforce that is increasingly divided.
I make it our responsibility at Guild of Imagination to show kids that even if they aren’t physically in the same room with others, their actions and words are still very real to the person on the other end. That’s why we don’t allow PVP (player vs. player) in our Dungeons and Dragons campaigns, and why we always lead with respect in our virtual experiences to provide safe online gaming for kids.
Additionally, we take the safety of our kids and teachers seriously. Every session is recorded and can be provided to families upon request. We also are sure to check in with each kid that joins our meetings to verify that they are indeed a child, and that we recognize their enrolled name. All our Guild Masters are background checked annually to give parents and caregivers peace of mind. And finally, every Guild Master we bring on to Guild of Imagination shares a philosophy of providing a safe, welcoming space for kids from all walks of life.
Whether it is D&D or VR, I believe this is how gaming can help kids learn. Through Dungeons and Dragons kids write their backstories of what happened before their character began adventuring. They utilize improv to think on the fly and come up with creative story beats that get the whole table engaged.
From one week to the next kids build upon a story that they, and the others in their group have a major hand in creating. There is nothing else quite like coming up with an idea to get past an evil monster or nasty trap, rolling a die to add in some chance, and everyone cheering as your idea works and you move the story forward in a fantastic, creative way.
In virtual reality, kids feel presence with their peers, even if they’re 1,000 miles apart. Jumping into a secret town with your friends once a week to go mining, roleplaying inside Gorilla Tag and world hopping in Rec Room are all amazingly creative outlets for kids. These are games that build confidence in kids and over time parents see their kids begin to open up in ways that they may not have thought possible before.
To wrap things up, all the Guild of Imagination Guild Masters are here because we want your child to succeed in life, and we hope to do that by providing safe online gaming for kids. We want to help them build their creative and social muscles in a fun, engaging way that prepares them for the world ahead. We hope to meet them soon and go on their next adventure with them!
