Critics have always argued on the impact of games on youngsters. But the promoters of socially relevant games as Darfur is Dying argue that these games are meant to sensitize youngsters about the problems and conflicts in the world. ‘Games for Change’ (G4C) is one such community for people using games to spread awareness about the pressing problems facing the world. G4C has games on various issues such as domestic problems, environment, global conflict, poverty, and politics. Their members represent various partners from the academia, the games industry, NGOs, government, and the UN.
Most of us have played Free Rice, a free online G4C game that tests the players’ vocabulary. For every correct answer, it donates 20 grains of rice to the World Food Programme. Then there is 3rd World Farmer that lets you experience the hardships faced by the poor by making you run a small farm in a developing country. A Force More Powerful teaches nonviolent conflict waging techniques. Climate Challenge uses actual climate change data and can be played for free on the BBC website.
Besides being an awareness tool, these ‘serious games’ are a perfect forum for training. The US government was one of the earliest adopter of these games. They are especially used by the military and academia to help its members learn to deal with issues on the field before they physically venture out on the field. Tactical Iraqi, developed by the University of Southern California's Information Sciences Institute for the Marines, teaches soldiers the importance of nonverbal cues and body language when speaking to Iraqis, besides giving them a crash course in Iraqi Arabic. In the GNNViz Project for scientists, spreadsheets and topographical data are projected as virtual terrain and trees. Scientists meet up and face real-life situations in the simulated forest.
A major advantage of these persuasive games are that they are cost-effective unlike the entertainment-games. However, big bucks are still far away for this niche industry. It requires adoption by corporate so it can go mainstream.
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