Gaming, be it PC or console, is one of the few entertainment mediums in today’s world that remains, by and large, true to its name: simply fun and games. But with the expanded consumer base and respect the industry has gained in recent years, developers are beginning to see the potential of games as powerful tools to affect social change.
Several activists, companies, and even NGOs are tapping into gaming’s broad userbase to encourage awareness in a generally less-involved demographic. The various socially conscious games already in existence cover a range of problems, from the harshness of life in third-world countries to the vanishing ecosystems falling victim to global warming.
So far, this genre has failed to attract much attention from fans and game media alike due to its tendency to take on a Sims-like environment (but without the business and relationship-building functions that make the Sims series fun) and use fairly unimaginative storylines. A few mainstream games Happily, developers and activists alike are beginning to aim to make games that will deliver a message and entertain along the way.
We’ve hunted down a handful of titles (and a few challenges to create some of your own) that we think are among the best of breed for you to try out.
Microsoft’s Games for Change Challenge
In a move toward being more “socially minded,” Microsoft recently announced the “Xbox 360 Games for Change Challenge,” which will kick off this August. They’ve partnered with Games for Change, the social change/social issues branch of the Serious Games Initiative, to open the competition to college students in over 100 countries the world over. The prize? The top three entries will each receive cash to be put toward financing higher education and may even a spot in Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE Arcade where their games can be downloaded and played. The first place winner, in addition, will get the opportunity to intern at Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business.
The contest will run from August 2007 to Spring 2008 and all games for this contest must use global warming as a major theme.
All entries must be developed on Microsoft’s XNA Game Studio Express, which has been touted as a tool that “level(s) the playing field for smaller game developers, non-professionals, and academics who wish to be involved in driving innovation and creativity in the game design process.”
Entry information and full contest details have not yet been released.
mtvU.com
MTV’s college network, mtvU.com, also runs contests to call attention to social issues around the world and around the country.
Recent winning entries include Darfur is Dying, a flash video game which allows the player to step into the shoes of an average Darfurian, trying to survive by foraging for water, getting medical supplies, and avoiding attacks by the Janjaweed militias.
Currently, mtvU.com is partnered with Kaiser Permanente to challenge users to create a game that will spread awareness about HIV/AIDS’s spread among America’s youth. The intent is to educate teens about HIV and its prevention: “If we’ve known about AIDS all our lives, why is it still taboo to talk about it?” reads a quote from the official site. The winning team (they don’t actually have to deliver a functioning game) will receive cash for their idea and will be given the chance to turn it into a real game with the help of mtvU.
Food Force
The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) has also gotten in on the social gaming action. Their popular Food Force game has been downloaded over 2.5 million times and aims to increase knowledge about world hunger and efforts to eradicate it. The target audience is children between 8 and 13 years old, so it’s perfect for use in classrooms as well as at home. There are six missions in the game, each highlighting a different stage in getting food to hungry citizens of Sheylan. Players do everything from performing the initial surveillance to teaching the citizens how to ensure that they have the infrastructure to avoid health disasters in the future.
Real Lives
Created by Educational Simulations, a software company based in Loma Rica, CA, Real Lives 2004 allows players to be born into any number of lives, in any number of countries in the world. Using real-world statistics (which means that you have a very good chance of being born into poor family in an overpopulated country) and statistically accurate events, Real Lives recreates the challenges and conditions of being, say, a male in Algeria, where there is a war raging when you’re born. You don’t get to choose a gender or a place to live; the game just assigns them to you. The challenge and the learning opportunities come as you progress through the character’s life, facing many of the same kinds of choices that a person living in that country would, from things as trivial as taking up smoking to selecting a spouse.
Educational Simulations will launch Real Lives 2007 later this year, which will include new features (such as more Real Life decisions) and updated statistics.
References:
Msoft Announces Global Warming Game Contest, kotaku.com
Microsoft Co-sponsors Global Warming Game Contest, theescapist.com
Microsoft + Social Games = Xbox Games for Change Challenge, endpovertyblog.com
Change the Course of HIV Challenge, mtvU.com
Real Lives 2004 Product Page, educationalsimulations.com