Serious Games Initiative

The Darfur is Dying game probably caught your attention.  It caught mine as I'm interested in the role of play in problem-solving, what ever the scope of the problem.  It is part of emerging trend: harnessing the power of the gaming medium for more "serious purposes," that many nonprofits address.  From inspiring young cancer patients to fighting poverty to peaceful resistance of oppressive regimes.  The list of social issues that are being addressed by games goes on ...

Today I just learned about the The Serious Games Initiative which is focused on uses for games in exploring management and leadership challenges facing the public sector.  Part of its overall charter is to help forge productive links between the electronic game industry and projects involving the use of games in education, training, health, and public policy.  Founded at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, it explores these intriguing questions:

• What public policy and management issues or challenges are most amenable to computer-based gaming techniques?
  
  
  
• What existing and emerging game technologies (such as
  multi-user, virtual environments) might be particularly useful when
  applied to policy or management issues?
  
  
  
  
• How can we quickly expand the application of computer-based
  games to a much wider range of key challenges facing our government and
  other public or private organizations?
  
• How do we identify and proactively deal with any social,
  ethical, and/or legal issues that might arise through the application
  of game-based tools to public policy and management issues?

So, why games?   I found a compelling reason here.  But the most intriguing question on that page was "How can organizations use games?"  The answer:

1. win the hearts and minds of their constituents
2. promote awareness
3. educate their audience
4. and even directly provide services

There is a also conference taking place called "Digital Games for Social Change" in June in NYC.  Hmm .. looking further I found a link to Water Cooler games which reminded of our virtual office on Arts Wire in early 1990's - we had a "Water Cooler Item" to make it seem more like a real office.

Comments

[Katrin]

Beth -- great minds think alike... I have been thinking a lot abut mobiles and games and the many great things one could do using mobile phones which are increasingly becoming platforms for games and activism, of course (a friend with a mobile project is thinking Second Life; more on that soon!)

So -- let's go to the Games for Change con and shake things up (and rest assured, we will be two of five women there...) See http://www.gamesforchange.org/index2.html

Are you game? More fun together!

[Marc Sirkin]

Thanks for this post - I am looking in to going to this as well and am very interested in seeing how The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society can utilize gaming for both fundraising and patient services/mission activies.

BTW Beth - I posted about your blog yesterday for nonprofitblogexchange. http://nonprofitblogexchange.blogspot.com/