How one woman is using video games to help Gen Z make the world a better place

Jessica Murrey started Wicked Saints after spending years working all over the globe on peace building. Learn how she transitioned to tech to start building what could be the biggest innovation in video games in a generation

Q: Tell us about you and what you’re working on at Wicked Saints.

Jessica: At heart, I'm a small town girl from Southern Oregon who's always believed in the power of stories to change the world. I started my career doing awareness campaigns for my hometown's local TV station–anti-child abuse, anti-domestic abuse and anti-sexual abuse. I kept telling stories of bad things after they happened. I wanted to figure out a way to stop bad things before they happened. That's when I discovered Search for Common Ground, the world's largest peacebuilding organization.

Common Ground does everything from reconciliation after genocide, to prevention of mass atrocities, to countering violent extremism. They have a unique approach to conflict that helps prevent violence, including emotional, physical and structural violence. I traveled around the world–Myanmar, Columbia, Burundi, Nigeria, and others– training young activists on strategic storytelling and campaigns to shift attitudes and behavior. And how to attack the problem, not the person. I saw how powerful the approach was and wanted to scale it for youth everywhere. I found games were the most effective way to empower young people because they are designed with a core loop. Every time you go around the loop you gain mastery, and mastery is how youth start believing in themselves. They play games and feel powerful. But when they stop playing reality comes crashing back down. We thought we could build a game where all the power the player gains in the game, they could keep with them in real life.

Jessica Murrey

And Wicked Saints Studios was born! We empower Gen Z to build a better world and live a happier life through immersive storytelling, gameplay and community, using augmented reality to bridge the fantasy world and the real world. We're building World Reborn, the first of its kind blended-reality story game with real-world missions. It's a new genre of games. Players aren't just pretending to be a hero; they're actually becoming one. Completing real-life actions powers players’ ability to play and win the game.

And I have an amazing team to do it. With experience inside and outside of gaming, the Wicked Saints team is world-class in their fields; grassroots campaign building and behavioral science expertise complement Emmy award-winning writing with gaming design and artistry from legacies like Angry Birds, Entergalactic, Love Death + Robots, Pokémon Go, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Marvel, The Walking Dead and more.

Q: What impact do you expect this to have on Gen Z and the future of debate, conflict resolution and advocacy?

Jessica: We hope to inspire and embolden Gen Z to handle whatever life throws at them and build the world they want to live in. Conflict is an indicator that there's a problem, but also an opportunity to fix that problem. We believe our inability to deal with differences stops us from making progress on every single issue we face– poverty, inequality, health and climate. We have to be able to collaboratively problem-solve together. We need our perceived enemy to join us in making lasting change. Turning enemies into allies is not easy, but it's effective. Common Ground Activism is about attacking the problem, not the person. It comes from a niche practice of Conflict Resolution called Conflict Transformation. Conflict Transformation gets people to focus on their shared interests, needs and humanity instead of their separate positions.

We like to call it adventure activism. Players get to embark on thrill seeking adventures where they have the power to change the world, the universe even. We’re bringing imagination, camaraderie, fun and adventure into activism. We recognize that if saving the world isn't fun, no one will do it.

“We empower Gen Z to build a better world and live a happier life through immersive storytelling, gameplay and community, using augmented reality to bridge the fantasy world and the real world.”

Q: What influences have inspired you to take this journey? It’s an ambitious and inspiring effort!

Jessica: Much of my inspiration comes from amazing peacebuilders all over the world. They used story in role-playing how to deal with tough situations. Putting people through story scenarios is highly effective way to train against being a bystander and for violence prevention. What do you do if a bully comes at you? What if they come at someone else? Even knowing that you have more options than fight and flight (both would do more damage than good). Stories are powerful tools because people don't change their behavior by giving them information. Behavior change happens through experiences. Stories are a way you can have a vicarious experience you would typically not have. But with interactive stories, you are the main character. You experience consequences for your decisions. And you experience the consequences of those decisions but in a safe place. Tie that with the mastery you get with gameplay and wallah! Magic.

Q: We’ve been learning more about the Metaverse from women in our community and as a company developing games, we’re interested in your take on this emerging world.

Jessica: We have a phrase we like to use at Wicked Saints. We say, “Fork the Metaverse." Yep. Fork it. In blockchain, a “fork” happens whenever a community makes a change to the protocol. The chain splits—producing a second chain that shares all of its history with the original but is headed off in a new direction. Now with the rapid advancement in technology like Web3, AI and XR like Apple Vision Pro, it feels like utopia is within our reach – virtual worlds where we don’t just play and chat, but live.

But what happens when technology takes us further from reality? Farther away from authentic human connection? Since 2012*, mental health has steadily been declining for young people. So when we say "F" the metaverse, we’re saying fork it. Change directions from abandoning a broken world and instead use all this mind-blowing tech to take those broken pieces and build a better one.

“Stories are powerful tools because people don’t change their behavior by giving them information. Behavior change happens through experiences.”

Q: As you know, the gaming space has traditionally been notorious for its misogyny. What has your experience been like as a black female founder, going from NGO work to the gaming space and raising your seed round? What’s your advice for other leaders and founders?

Jessica: It's been challenging. Not only do I have to get people over their bias of what a game should be and what it can do. But first, I have to get them over their bias that I am the one that can build it. I don't come from a big game studio. I do come from a fancy school (I was a scholarship athlete).

So I don't have any of the qualifiers people look for in BIPOC to make sure they're "one of us." 

When you're innovating, you need to fail in order to learn. And when you're a BIPOC woman, you also know you don't get those chances. You fail, you prove "them" right. "I knew she couldn't pull it off." It takes outrageous belief and humility to keep going. 

It's rough. I have many stories. Too many stories.

My advice to young creators is always the same: no one can stop you from creating, so–create. They can stop you from getting hired, promoted and raising capital. But no one can stop you from drawing, writing, designing, testing, prototyping, dreaming. So create. And slay. 

Q: What are you reading? We host a monthly Book Club and love recommendations! 

Jessica: Warning, I only tend to read fantasy novels. But I just finished Blood over Bright Haven by ML Wang. It was one of the best depictions of the effects of colonization in fantasy form that I have ever read. Be warned, it's intense, but also highly entertaining. Not for the faint of heart though.