Gaming for Change: G4C Fest Puts Serious Games to the Test

Gamers took the next step at the recent Games for Change Festival, examining not just how digital games can illuminate social issues—but how to measure if they’re working.

“A foundation might want to evaluate how it’s spending its money on these games,” says Alex Quinn, executive director of the nonprofit Games for Change, which runs the annual event. “Our barometer is not how many people bought it, but the impact. So we took a much harder look at how that’s measured. I think those are fair questions to ask.”

Assessment was a major topic at the festival held in late May at Parsons the New School for Design in New York. Now in its sixth year, the G4C fest promotes digital games that address important global issues, from poverty and human rights to the economic crisis and the environment.

The impact of these so-called “serious games” is growing. Nonprofits are creating them to push their message. Meanwhile, educators and librarians see the potential of serious games to excite their students, as opposed to traditional fare (think Baby Einstein–styled games). “Those are designed more to distract you,” says Barry Joseph, director of online leadership programs for the youth development group Global Kids. Through Global Kids’ Playing4Keeps program, high school students are encouraged to design and build their own games. One such project, Hurricane Katrina: Tempest in Crescent City, was created by students at Canarsie High School in Brooklyn (pictured at left) and was a finalist for the Knight News Game Award given at G4C.

Sarah Lee, an MLS candidate at New York’s Pratt Institute, was also on hand at the festival. “Games are a way of storytelling and problem solving, and libraries can use these models to make it more engaging for children,” explains Lee, who plans to specialize in instructional technology.

How to engage a player concerns Amanda Hickman. As technical director for the New York online daily Gotham Gazette, Hickman oversees the development of digital games intended to help users better grasp complex topics, from the environment to city hall. She took careful notes as festival goers played her title The Budget Maze. Another Knight Award finalist, Maze involves a dungeon-styled labryinth in which players create a municipal budget within a limited time. Users, however, grew frustrated when the game kicked them off after too many wrong decisions. Hickman will take these observations into account as the Gazette builds its next game—the fourth in a series of six titles first launched in 2007. And she’s pretty hopeful that they’ll have another winner. After all, one of the site’s earlier games, Waste Management, which concerned garbage, has caught on with an unlikely crowd. “A friend told me about a Girl Scout group using it,” says Hickman. “It’s part of their badge-earning process.”

Online games featured at the Games for Change Expo:

Budget Maze
Release Date: May 19, 2008
Players in Gotham Gazette's web-based Budget Maze navigate a dreary dungeon. In various rooms, the player must find the zombie who holds the answers to a question about the city or state budget process in order to move forward.
Age Range: Ages 14 and up

Caduceus
Release Date:  May 2008
Kids are invited to apply their passions for games and “powers for good” to help raise money to fuel the discovery of cures and treatments for serious childhood diseases at Children's Hospital Boston.
Age Range: Ages 7 and up

Civilization IV: Quality of Life
Release Date: May 2009
Popular government games view citizens as tools to glorify the governor. But what if we scored our quality of life? In this Civilization IV mod, a player is rated based on the health and happiness of the people.
Age Range: Ages 14 and up

Debt Ski
Release Date: April 23, 2009
Debt Ski features a piggy bank on a personal watercraft, which must overcome various obstacles while maximizing his savings, limiting his debt and maintaining his happiness. One of Debt Ski’s biggest challenges comes in the form of potential spending tsunamis, which represent unexpected yet costly life events like losing one’s job. To prepare himself for these unforeseen and expensive tsunamis, the piggy bank must build up his savings and stay below his credit limit, while also making sure he’s paid for necessities such as housing and food.
Age Range: Ages 14 and up

Free Ranger
Release Date: May 2007
A better life awaits--for chickens, that is. Players are Rex Rooster and save his sisters from Kenutky (yes, that's the way it's spelled here) Factory farm. In this casual videogame, players experience fast puzzle game play and facts about factory farming.
Age Range: Ages 11 and up

Hurricane Katrina
Release Date: August 29th, 2008, the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina
The Web-based game recognizes local heroes who emerged during the disaster while educating its players about the essentials of disaster readiness.
Age Range: Ages 11 and up

Jimmy vs. The Splurge
Release Date: June 2007 and June 2008
Jimmy vs. the Splurge is a vertical shooter, where Jimmy must guide his spaceship to learn about nutrition and healthy eating. Players try to help him remove unhealthy food from around the world.
Age Range: Ages 7 and up

Mission America
Release Date: September 2007
Learn how everyday choices can affect the fate of migrating birds. In this game, players try to help a flock migrate safely by learning how choices they make each and every day around their home, school, and neighborhood can affect the fate of these migrating birds - in both positive and negative ways. By the time players are done, they’ll have the skills and knowledge to help birds thrive and survive.
Age Range: Ages 7 and up

Ninjabi
Release Date: April 29, 2009
Ninjabi is an empowerment fantasy game set in the Muslim world, where a young woman dares to defy the rules and fight for her rights. The main character, Layla, undertakes small acts of rebellion in order to gather her strength and the strength of her community to fight back against her oppressors.
Age Range: Ages 7 and up

Play the News
Release Date: March 31, 2008
"Play the News" is an engaging, community-driven experience - imagine fantasy sports meets the evening news. The platform’s goal is to drive “Interactive News” mini games that change news consumption from passive reading to active engagement. The platform is flexible enough to address a range of global and local content.
Age Range: Ages 14 and up

Real lives 2010
Release Date: July 1, 2009
Real Lives 2010 is the latest version of the Real Lives simulation, which enables you to live a life in any country across the world, all based on real world statistics. 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.
Age Range: Ages 11 and up

Runeslinger
Release Date: May 2009
Play with the Korean language. Feed a village. Practice a few nouns and verbs by serving food to villagers during a famine in North Korea. Each villager sings the food they need. They can compose letters into a magic word.
Age Range: Ages 7 and up

September 12th
Release Date: September 2003
Highly controversial at its launch in 2003, September 12th describes the post 9-11 world. Created by a team of Uruguayan game developers lead by a former CNN journalist, this game virally exposed the futility of the US-led War on Terror. The player controls what seems to be a sniper rifle target but, when clicked, launches missiles. The bombs not only kill the terrorists but also generate so-called “collateral damage.” When civilians mourn the innocent dead, they soon turn into terrorists. After a couple of minutes, this Middle-Eastern village is destroyed and crawling with terrorists. The player soon realizes that there is no way to win the game through shooting.
Age Range: Ages 11 and up

Ultimate Lunch Tray
Release Date: June 2007 and June 2008
This Web game works as an advocacy tool for helping students create healthier cafeterias. Players enter a cafeteria and collect food from a conveyer belt. They earn points depending on what they collect.
Age Range: Ages 7 and up

Zeitgeist
Release Date: June 2007 and June 2008
The Zeitgeist, a right-scroll platformer, is a multifaceted casual game in which players travel through time. The past is in danger, and the hero must save it by moving through different levels that represent a new historical period. O-Zero Hundred and his minions have scattered themselves through time and are changing it to help themselves. The hero is going to go back in time to correct the past and foil O-Zero Hundred.
Age Range: Ages 7 and up

The G4c Expo featured hands on time with various games, including a nondigital one, Train, pictured above.