Here are some examples of recently developed ‘Serious Games‘ that are freely available for you to play. I’m interested in your questions, comments and thoughts…
Pos or Not (www.posornot.com, released April 2008) is a viral online game that confronts the HIV/AIDS stigma. People from across the country – some of whom are living with HIV, some who are not – put their personal lives forward to challenge the stereotypes about who is affected by this disease. Based only on their photographs and personal information, players are asked if the individual is “Pos or Not.” By showing that you can’t tell people’s HIVstatus by the way they look or by their gender, age and interests, the game confronts stereotypes about who is affected by HIV/AIDS while providing information about how to prevent the spread of the disease. Pos or Not harnesses the viral nature of the internet to effect a positive change on the HIV/AIDS issue so I encourage you to play the game and pass it on to your family and friends. Thanks.
Play the News (www.playthenews.com, April 2008) is an engaging, community-driven experience: “imagine fantasy sports meets the evening news.” Play the News is a web-based platform that brings interactive gaming elements to the online news media industry changing the paradigm of news consumption from passive reading to active engagements. Impact Games, the developer of Play the News, also created the PeaceMaker game which simulates the Israeli and Palestinian conflict in the Middle East.
Vinyl Game (www.vinylgame.com, May 2008) is a socially responsible response by the European PVC industry’s commitment to sustainability. In Vinyl Game you have to manage the PVC life cycle from the production to the waste management. Your objective is to create a profitable and sustainable business by the year 2010. Go for it!
Activism NYC (www.comeoutandplay.org/2008_reactivism.php, June 2008) is a street game in which teams race through the history of riots, protests, and activism in New York City testing their puzzle-solving skills in site throughout the city where echoes of the fight for justice and peace still ring. By visiting historic sites and searching for clues to the events that happened there, players will reactivate forgotten histories to engage social issues and struggles that were important then and continue to have resonance today. Activated by text messages from Re:Activism Central, the teams engage in site-specific challenges that reveal the details of each event and the strategies behind organizing street-based actions.
ICED – I Can End Deportation (www.icedgame.com, Feb 2008) puts you in the shoes of an immigrant to illustrate how unfair immigration laws deny due process and violate human rights. These laws affect all immigrants: legal residents, those fleeing persecution, students and undocumented people. The game’s purpose is to reframe the immigration debate from a discussion that looks at immigrants as criminals, to one that looks and creates awareness around immigration as an issue that violates human rights and denies due process of all immigrants – legal and undocumented.
Hurricane Katrina Hero (Global Kids Youth, July 2008) is a flash-based game in which the player assumes the role of a high school girl from New Orleans who has moved out of the city. The game is set in a dream she’s having about being in the Hurricane Katrina disaster trying to rescue her mother. The player moves through five different neighborhoods over the course of the first five days of the disaster. The player must learn about the disaster from residents, help distribute resources from the community, and rescue people trapped in their attics. The purpose of the game is to try and affect public misconceptions about Hurricane Katrina and the stereotypes that the residents were only victims or criminals. Also, the game is trying to renew attention to the disaster, because though the public has moved on to other stories, the struggle to rebuild continues for many New Orleans residents. Additionally, our game highlights tow of the most important actions in any disaster: effective communication and utilization of local resources.
CONSENT! (Global Kids Youth, Jan 2007) uses tools from the virtual world of Teen Second Life to create an immersive experience that challenges its players to make difficult decisions while learning about six decades of medical racism targeting African-American male prisoners.
Deliver the Net (www.nothingbutnets.net) is a new game created by the UN to commemorate World Malaria Day (April 25). The challenge is to race against the sun and hand out as many insecticide-treated bed nets as you can to African families. The more nets delivered (before the mosquitoes come out) equals the more lives saved. When you sign up to play the game and confirm your email, a life-saving bed net will be sent on your behalf. The NET-O-METER shows that over 2 million nets have been sent to date.
What Would You Do (by UNICEF) is an interactive game that explores real life situations with regards to HIV/AIDS. Created by UNICEF Voices of Youth, this game is now available in Swahili.
Water Alert! (by UNICEF) is an educational resource on water, environment and sanitation where young people are engaged in an adventure of strategy and survival. The goal is to ensure that the people in this drought-challenged village, who are facing the threat of a flood, have water that is safe to drink and a clean and healthy school environment.
Food Force (www.food-force.com, April 2005) one of my favorite games, is an educational action game that teaches kids about the problem of global hunger and the importance of humanitarian aid work. Developed by the United Nation’s World Food Program, Food Force has been downloaded by over four million players, a number that rivals chart-busting commercial hits like Halo or GTA.
Free Rice (www.freerice.com, Oct. 2007) is an online internet game that donates 20 grains of rice to the WFP for every word that is correctly defined. Since the game’s release date, October 2007, the site has raised enough rice to feed over 1.5 million people for a day. The game has been embraced by young and old people, proving to be an excellent tool for teaching both vocabulary and the value of helping others in need. Free Rice has been a viral phenomenon and boasts numerous Facebook fan sites, including one page with over 63,000 members. Sign up, play and help feed the needy.
Real Lives (www.educationalsimulations.com, released July 2007) is a simulation of life, from birth to death in any country of the world. Through statistically accurate events, Real Lives brings to life different cultures, political systems, economic opportunities, personal decisions, health issues, family issues, schooling, jobs, religions, geography, war, peace, and more. As you make decisions for your character and experience the consequences of those decisions you learn about the world and gain an increased appreciation of your own life cirumstances and those of other people. Real Lives’ purpose is to offer an experience of what life is like for people in other countries. The intended impact is increased understanding of the life circumstances of others.
There are many more games, such as Darfur is Dying (mtvU), World Without Oil, Ayati – The Cost of Life, A Planet Green Game (Starbucks), A Force More Powerful, 3rd World Farmer, and Becoming a World Hero. Further, the future is bright with new developments that seek to harness the power of video games in the service of humanistic principles.
Bye for now, PJ!