I used to write a lot more about “seniors getting seniors online” and other tools to maximize use of broadband. So when I saw this project happening near my neighborhood in St Paul I had to share. I can see the application in every neighborhood or small town as a way to bring seniors (or in this case, sophomores) and seniors together and maybe create a unique tourism tool.
“Do you know you can go on your phone and there’s this game where you can see the old Rondo and the new Rondo?”
It’s called the “Rondo-verse” – a video game aiming to give a sense not only of historic Rondo, but also its present-day vibrancy.
As co-creator Benny Roberts said, “It’s important for me that the community that I come from and was raised in isn’t defined by the thing that happened to it.”
The project is a collaboration between Jolie Davis, a sophomore biology major at Macalester College and Roberts, the executive director of Rondo’s Hallie Q. Brown Community Center.
Using funding from the center’s historical archive program, Roberts was able to hire Davis for 10 weeks and figure out how to showcase Rondo in a unique way.
Davis suggested using Roblox – a platform where users can create their own video games and experiences. Roberts initially pitched The Sims, but acknowledged that Roblox was the right call given its wild popularity with kids and teenagers.
“The Sims feels like my generation,” he said, laughing.
To help create a vision of Rondo’s history, they worked with a group of about 15 community elders – people who knew what it was like to live, work and grow up in Rondo first hand.