It’s been a while since I posted about learning games. Here are three serious, educational games that have come onto my radar screen lately:
Akoha
Described as “the world’s first social reality game,” Akoha awards players points for completing real-world “missions” that are distributed via decks of cards that players purchase from Akoha for $5 per deck. The idea is to spread good deeds in a sort of “pay-it-forward” fashion. Here’s the Akoha site summary on how it all works:
First, go about your every day life. When you do something nice for someone, hand them an appropriate Akoha card and explain the game that you’re playing. They can go to www.akoha.com and claim that they received your act of kindness.
Afterwards, log in to Akoha and register that you’ve played an Akoha card. If you remember which mission ID you played, select the right card. Otherwise, just register the type of mission you did.
Fill out a story for the recipient to see. You can write about how you played the mission and should be something inspiring for others to read. Attach a photo or video to make your story that much more appealing.
Akoha is technically in private beta right now, but it still seems to be possible to play so long as you are willing to pony up $5.
FloodSim
Straight from the game site:
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.
Play, learn, and have fun.
Jeff Cobb
Mission to Learn
P.S. – Follow Mission to Learn on Twitter: https://twitter.com/missiontolearn
