Video games designed for a change

Most people would agree that video games are an enjoyable waste of time. Some argue that these games can boost your intelligence. If intelligence is narrowly defined to include whatever skill is being practiced in the video game then that’s probably likely. A few game designers have begun to create online experiences that try to stimulate your conscience and call you to action. Darfur is Dying is one recent entry that gives perpective on the survival issues facing Darfurian refugees. Click NPR for a National Public Radio interview with one of its designers.

Another entry is, 3rd World Farmer. This online experience simulates the conditions faced by a third world farming family. Your goal is to survive hardships that are mostly out of your control. Another game, September 12, simulates a middleastern city. Here your goal is to decide whether or not to kill terrorists among a civilian population and to do so with little to no collateral damage, as doing so creates more terrorists. Click game for more information on the game designers. Food Force is a downloadable game in a Mac and Windows version. The game was created by the United Nation’s World Food Programme to bring attention to the issue of world hunger. Your goal in this game is to help rebuild a fictional country, Sheylan. As part of a food aid team, you will among other tasks run convoys and negotiate food shipments from around the world. A Force More Powerful, is sponsored by the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict. The game is purported to be “the first and only interactive teaching tool using nonviolent tactics to overcome oppression.” It is a for purchase game and only available in a PC version. America’s Army is the official video game of the U.S. Army. It is intended to teach “teamwork, values and responsibility.” Some would question its inclusion in this list but I’ll leave you to make up your own mind. All these game environments are constrained but they do require you to be more engaged than if you were only reading about the circumstances that the games recreate. You can find a more comprehensive list of these and other kinds of “serious games” at socialimpactgames.com. Try playing some of them and if you feel informed and inspired and so inclined then click over to the sponsoring agencies for more information on how you can make a difference in the real world.

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