Empowering neuro-diverse young people and fostering collaborative industry ties, Raising the Game is a Youth Options project that offers a quality assurance (QA) service for game studios, while also providing training, jobs, and work experience opportunities for young people. QA is a vital part of the game development process, as it ensures that the games are free of errors, bugs, and glitches, and that they meet the expectations of the players and clients.
Raising the Game also aims to establish a social enterprise that will deliver QA services for external game studios and employ young people organising QA testing and training for Youth Options’ service users. This will create a sustainable and inclusive model that will benefit both the game studios and the young people, as well as the wider gaming community. Raising the Game is more than just a QA service, it is a comprehensive guide that will enhance technical, employability, and social skills, and offer invaluable support for skill development. The program is designed to be accessible and inclusive to all young people, with a particular focus on young people who are neurodiverse.
Raising the Game means a lot to Youth Options, the diverse range of young people who use our services and the wider community. For Youth Options, it would be an opportunity to expand our range of programs and services, and to collaborate with partners from the gaming industry, education sector, and government agencies. It would also allow us to showcase our expertise and experience in working with young people, and to share our best practices and learnings with other organisations.
For young people who use our services, Raising the Game would be a chance to explore their passion and potential in QA for gaming, and to gain valuable skills and qualifications that could lead to employment and/or further education. It would also be a fun and rewarding way to gain recognised micro-credentials and challenge themselves and connect with other like-minded young people. It would offer them a supportive and inclusive environment where they can develop their confidence, resilience, and self-esteem. We are creating Peer Leader roles for young people with disability, as part of Youth Options’ genuine inclusion strategy where people with disability are included in our governance, management and service design and delivery.
For the wider community, Raising the Game would promote the recognition and inclusion of young people with disability in valued and contributing roles in community, and celebrate their talents and achievements. It would be a positive example of how gaming can be used for social good, and how collaboration and innovation can make a difference.
“On behalf of everyone at Youth Options and partner organisations, I would like to extend our deepest gratitude to the JFM Fund for their generous support. Their contribution has been instrumental in helping us empower young people, including young people with disability and neurodiversity, and foster collaborative industry ties. We are incredibly grateful for their partnership and look forward to continuing our work together.”
Michelle Braham, CEO of Youth Options
