In relation to this week’s excellent topic on video games as educational tools. I would like to share a game called ‘3rd World Farmer‘ which can be played online, or through a mobile app. It is available in multiple languages.
The description from their website reads, “3rd World Farmer is a new kind of game. An experiment in the genre of Serious Games, it simulates some of the real-world mechanisms that cause and sustain poverty in 3rd World countries. In the game, the player gets to manage an African farm and is soon confronted with the difficult choices that poverty and conflict can cause.“
I’ve played this game before, and have sadly never won it. It is a free, turn-based game, with each turn lasting several months, covering the planting and yield of crops. After each turn, information is provided about whether the crop yield was successful, and other challenges the family faced such as earthquakes, to raiders. Each player must make a difficult choice between sending the children to school, which costs money, or keeping them home to help with the harvest. As well as other choices to have more children, and whether to spend money on medicine or seeds. The game provides lots of opportunities for discussion and reflection, and the website also provides additional information related to 3rd World farming.
I would perhaps not recommend this game to any students below grade six, as it is not uncommon for family members to die, especially infants as medicine and food is not always affordable.
This game is a resourceful way to teach in a gaming environment the challenges facing those in the 3rd world, particularly in the field of agriculture. I found it to be quite versatile in it’s mode of play, as it is available through a browser or on Google Play. I an using Android, but I wonder if there will be an iOS app version later.