Games and learning make a great pair - and it seems the two together could contribute to serious social change. That’s what I was thinking when I first wrote this post. The 5th annual Games for Change Festival was approaching and it seemed like a good time to poke around and see what sorts of educational games might be out there that are geared towards making a difference in the world. Turns out, there is plenty going on in the world of learning games for change.

As the 6th annual Games for Change Festival rolled around, I decided it was time to start updating the list. The original 26 has now been increased to 36, and I hope to keep adding more over the coming weeks and months, so be sure to check back.

Fair warning, you could easily eat up a big chunk of your day following the links in this post! But hey, you’ll be helping out the world a bit in the process. Here’s what I found :

If you are interested in finding more great resources for educational games and learning, you might also want to consider subscribing to the Free Learning Monitor.

Browser-based, Free Learning Games

Deliver the Net
Deliver the Net is “….a cool new game created by the UN Foundation to commemorate World Malaria Day, April 25th. The challenge: race the sun and hand out as many insecticide-treated bed nets as you can to African families. The more nets you deliver – before the mosquitoes come out – the more lives you save. Once you’re done playing the game, sign up, confirm your email, and a life-saving bed net will be sent on your behalf!” Nearly 2 million nets sent as of this posting.

Karma Tycoon
Karma Tycoon “rocks the gaming world by offering you a thrilling ride through the world of social entrepreneurship as you earn Karma in virtual communities across the US.” Developed by DoSomething.org. Teachers curriculum available.

Ayiti: The Cost of Life
“What is it like to live in poverty, struggling every day to stay healthy, keep out of debt, and get educated? Find out now in this challenging role playing game created by the High School students in Global Kids with the game developers at Gamelab, in which you take responsibility for a family of five in rural Haiti.” From UNICEF with Microsoft support.

3rd World Farmer
“3rd World Farmer … aims at simulating the real-world mechanisms that cause and sustain poverty in 3rd World countries. In the game, the player gets to manage an African farm, and is soon confronted with the often difficult choices that poverty and conflict necessitate. We find this kind of experience efficient at making the issues relevant to people, because players tend to invests their hopes in a game character whose fate depends on him. We aim at making the player “experience” the injustices, rather than being told about them, so as to stimulate a deeper and more personal reflection on the topics.”

Free Rice
An addictive vocabulary game that promises “For each word you get right, we donate 20 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program.” More than 29 billion grains donated as of this posting.

Go Goat Go
“Get a goat to help you grow more food! They eat weeds, their milk is magic and plants love their poo…” Just one of a number of games featuring Christian Aid’s Global Gang.

Heifer Village: Nepal
“In this village a few are prosperous, but most struggle with hunger and poverty. You are Esha, a young girl who belongs to a poor family. Your mother Sabitri’s dearest wish is to somehow acquire a goat. A goat would provide your family with milk and the means of making money, which would allow you to go to school.” From Heifer International.

Darfur is Dying
“Darfur is Dying is a viral video game for change that provides a window into the experience of the 2.5 million refugees in the Darfur region of Sudan. Players must keep their refugee camp functioning in the face of possible attack by Janjaweed militias. Players can also learn more about the genocide in Darfur that has taken the lives of 400,000 people, and find ways to get involved to help stop this human rights and humanitarian crisis.” From mtvU in partnership with the Reebok Human Rights Foundation.

Whack TB
“Can you whack TB off the face of the earth? Play our game and learn more about fighting TB!” From the Families USA Global Health Initiative.

My U.S. Rep: Role Play Congress
“Now’s your chance to role play your favorite(or not so) House of Representative and help them become more popular! Based on real voting data, My US Rep allows you to discover your Rep’s hopes and dreams within an engaging game experience. Help your Rep become the most popular, look for bills to vote on, interact with in-game characters, collect cash and buy media time.”

eLections: Your Adventure in Politics
“Inspired by the classic board game “The Game of Life,” players will role-play their own virtual candidates running for President. The one or two-player game is both genuinely entertaining and genuinely educational - with emphasis on delivering a fun learning experience. Kids can play with parents, students with teachers, users of all ages with a friend, classmate, or with a computer-generated opponent. The latest edition of eLECTIONS also offers a computer-generated Third Party candidate.” Created by the cable industry’s non-profit education foundation, Cable in the Classroom, in partnership with CNN Student News, C-SPAN and HistoryTM. So, maybe not so altruistic, but still looks like it could be educational and fun. Naturally, there are teacher resources available.

Nuclear Weapons
“Take on the mission to disarm the world of nuclear weapons with the help of eight “Peace Doves!”” There are also five other educational games at this site. From NobelPrize.org.

Global Warming Interactive
“CO2FX is a web based multi-user educational game which explores the relationship of global warming to economic, political and science policy decisions. The game is driven by a systems dynamics model and is presented in a user friendly interface intended for the high school user.” Supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation.

Climate Challenge
“A game where you are president of the European Nations. You must tackle climate change and stay popular enough with the voters to remain in office.” From the BBC.

Wasteland Adventure
“Time: 3010 AD. After humans destroyed the ecosystem. The earth lost the ability to heal and the environment continues to get worse. The freash air and clean water are polluted. People have to wear breathing masks lest the toxic air rots their lungs. Human beings encounter a next critical crisis. The son of a scientist, BOBO is very interested in the garbage that has polluted the earth. He collects all kinds of usable garbage to make into his toys. However, BOBO has an evil self. Sometimes he will become lazy. One day BOBO falls asleep in the garbage…”

World Without Oil
“WORLD WITHOUT OIL is an alternate reality event, a serious game for the public good. It invites everyone to help simulate a global oil shock. People participate by contributing original online stories, created as though the oil shock were really happening. The game’s masters rank the participants (“players”) according to their contributions to our realistic portrayal of the oil shock. The game also places value on player-created communities, collaborative stories, and collective efforts.

Each contribution helps the game arrive at a larger truth. No team of experts knows better than a given individual what effect an oil shock would have upon that individual’s life, or what action he or she will take to cope. Personal reactions to our simulated oil shock, placed in context with many other points of view, will help us all realize what’s at stake in our oil-fired culture.”

Stop Disasters!
“The on-line game aims at teaching children how to build safer villages and cities against disasters. Children will learn playing how the location and the construction materials of houses can make a difference when disasters strike and how early warning systems, evacuation plans and education can save lives.” From the United Nation/International Strategy for Disaster Reduction. Multiple languages. Good teacher resources

Stop Whaling Game
“Steer the Greenpeace inflatable boat around the seas and intercept the dangerous harpoons from the whaling ship. To make the whaling ship stop whaling, you must try and get your activists on board the whaling ship. Good luck!” From GreenPeace UK.

Food Detectives Fight BAC
“The Food Detectives Fight BAC!® game gives kids a fun way to learn about foodborne illness. More and more, foodborne illness is making news headlines. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), foodborne illnesses in the United States affect millions of people and cause thousands of deaths every year. The CDC says 300,000 people are hospitalized every year.” From New Mexico State University.

The Incredible Adventures of the Amazing Food Detectives
“There has been a mysterious outbreak of unhealthy habits hitting too many boys and girls. If we don’t solve these cases, and fast, kids might not make the right food and exercise choices as they grow, and that could be trouble! All junior food detectives will get secret training on how to eat right and exercise. You can investigate fun games like Whack A Snack, Soccer, and Zap the TV. Plus you can print out classified clues on ways to be healthy, then share them with your parents, teachers, and pals.” From Kaiser Permanente. Teacher resources available.

McDonald’s Video Game
“Making money in a corporation like McDonald’s is not simple at all! Behind every sandwich there is a complex process you must learn to manage: from the creation of pastures to the slaughter, from the restaurant management to the branding. You’ll discover all the dirty secrets that made us one of the biggest compan[ies] of the world.”
Multiple languages. Offline version available. From La Molle Industria.

I Can End Deportation
I haven’t had a chance to play this one, but it looks very good. Requires a download. (Via David Warlick)

As an immigrant teen you are avoiding ICE officers, choosing right from wrong and answering questions on immigration. But if you answer questions incorrectly, or make poor decisions, you will be detained with no respect for your human rights.

Superstruct
Like World Without Oil above, this one was a massive multi-player game that took place over time. The actual “play” has now ended, but there is still a lot of interesting learning to be had from the site.

Superstruct is the world’s first massively multiplayer forecasting game. By playing the game, you’ll help us chronicle the world of 2019–and imagine how we might solve the problems we’ll face. Because this is about more than just envisioning the future. It’s about making the future, inventing new ways to organize the human race and augment our collective human potential.

Exchanging Cultures
This one is based in Second Life, which is fertile ground for all sorts of games.

EC is a diplomatic game within Second life with both short term and long term goals.
Short term: Interact with and complete the games within EC
Long term: Create virtual communities and relationships based on the exchange of cultural items such as dances, art, recipes, clothing, and images of other places for travelers/explorers. Each player becomes a diplomat who must attempt to understand the cultures of the people that he/she is building relationships with, as well as share elements of his/her own culture.

Energyville
From Chevron and the Economist. The marketer in me says “brilliant” while the educator asks “Why didn’t they just fund World Without Oil?

It’s up to you to provide enough power to meet the energy demands of your city’s 3.9 million people while keeping them prosperous, secure, and living in a clean environment. The implications of the energy decisions you make today for your city in 2015 are based on the current lifestyles and the projected energy demands and costs for developed countries throughout North America, Europe and Asia.

Madrid and September 12th
These are both from newsgaming.com. The both focus on terrorism, but aside from saying that, I’m not sure describing them will do them or their creators justice. Here’s how “newsgaming” is defined on the site:

Newsgaming is a word we coined for describing a genre that is currently emerging: videogames based on news events. Traditionally, videogames have focused on fantasy rather than reality, but we believe that they can be a great tool for better understanding our world. Since newsgaming is so new, it has to find a voice of its own. Therefore, most of our games will be in part experimental.

Profit Seed
Profit Seed is an exploration of the issues surrounding genetically modified organisms (GMO) and the patenting of agricultural seeds. It is also an experiment with a novel game mechanic. A player uses her mouse to control the wind, trying to plant heirloom seeds while preventing GMO seeds from blowing onto a farmer’s plots. If enough GMO seeds land in the field and germinate, the lawyer from an agribusiness corporation comes to sue the farmer and take his land.

FloodSim

If you’ve ever wanted to make important decisions, affecting millions of people, this is your chance!

FloodSim puts you in control of all flood policy decisions and spending in the UK for 3 years. Whether its deciding how much money to allocate to flood defences, deciding where to build houses, or how best to inform people about the risk of flooding, you are in control.

FloodSim is a serious game with the aims to raise awareness of the vast number of issues surrounding flood policy and Government expenditure and to increase citizen engagement through an accessible simulation.

Change Your Generation

This free online game from Austin Energy is intended to educate citizens about the challenges inherent in providing energy for a city. Players get to make decisions about what types of energy the City of Austin will use and see the impact of their decisions in terms of cost, availability, capacity, and the environment.

Desktop/Free Learning Games

All of the following are free, though in most instances donations are encouraged.

Food Force
“As team rookie you have six missions to complete. Each mission represents a part of the process of delivering food aid to an area in crisis. The final mission shows you how food aid can help people rebuild their lives in the years following a disaster.” United Nations World Food Programme. Multiple languages. Teacher resources available.

Fatworld
“FATWORLD is a video game about the politics of nutrition. It explores the relationships between obesity, nutrition, and socioeconomics in the contemporary U.S. The game’s goal is not to tell people what to eat or how to exercise, but to demonstrate the complex, interwoven relationships between nutrition and factors like budgets, the physical world, subsidies, and regulations. Existing approaches to nutrition advocacy fail to communicate the aggregate effect of everyday health practices. It’s one thing to explain that daily exercise and nutrition are important, but people, young and old, have a very hard time wrapping their heads around outcomes five, 10, 50 years away.”

WolfQuest
“Learn about wolf ecology by living the life of a wild wolf in Yellowstone National Park. Play alone or with friends in on-line multiplayer missions, explore the wilderness, hunt elk, and encounter stranger wolves in your quest to find a mate. Ultimately, your success will depend on forming a family pack, raising pups, and ensuring the survival of your pack.” From the Minnestota Zoo and eduweb under a grant from the National Science Foundation.

Harpooned
“Harpooned is a free game for Windows. It is a Cetacean Research Simulator, where you play the role of a Japanese scientist performing research on whales around Antarctica.” See also the YouTube trailer for Harpooned.

Re-Mission
“…Re-Mission (featuring Roxxi, the intrepid nanobot), is a challenging, 3D “shooter” with 20 levels that takes the player on a journey through the body of young patients with different kinds of cancer. Created by leading video game developers and animators in collaboration with scientific and medical consultants and HopeLab staff, this state-of-the-art game is designed to be cool and fun, while helping players to increase their personal knowledge about cancer and improve their confidence in their ability to manage their cancer.”

Desktop/Paid Learning Games

Peacemaker
“PeaceMaker challenges you to succeed as a leader where others have failed. Experience the joy of bringing peace to the Middle East or the agony of plunging the region into disaster. PeaceMaker will test your skills, assumptions and prior knowledge. Play it and you will never read the news the same way again.” $19.95 (Arabic, English, Hebrew)

Peace out,

JTC

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If you liked this post, you might also want to explore other  Learning Games articles on Mission to Learn.

Related posts:

1. 7 More Learning Games for Change
2. MMO Games for Change?
3. Learning Games: Energy, Floods, and Social Reality
4. The Growing Learning Games for Change List
5. New Serious Games - Serious Games News