Games for Change More than a listing of games it is a movement with conferences
Activate is designed to provide teachers and students with immersive and effective tools for learning about civic issues. In the game, students campaign for an issue of their choice, become a local leader, and start a national movement
Cards Against Humanity describes their game:In Cards Against Calamity, you take on the role of mayor of a small coastal town. You must balance the needs of various stakeholder groups, from fishermen to tourists and small business owners, while protecting the town from job loss, pollution, hurricanes, and hipsters. Do you have what it takes?
“HARMONY SQUARE” IS AN ONLINE GAME DESIGNED TO TEACH TEENS ABOUT DISINFORMATION
iThrive Games Grades 9 - 12 Games empower teens to discover and use their unique strengths, unlock their potential, and take charge of their well-being. "iThrive Sim's suite of role-playing simulation games meet the moment, providing relevant game-based learning experiences that make media literacy, history, and civics educationcome alive in high school social studies and humanities classrooms."
Game That Emphasizes Building a More Peaceful World
Minecraft has released an immersive educational game called Active Citizen, in partnership with the Nobel Peace Center and Games for Change. The goal of the game is to help educate youth worldwide about Nobel Peace Prize laureates, past and present, and foster an understanding of the skills needed to drive positive change in the world..
Do to Learn - Free Feelings and Emotions Games, excellent for social skills instruction, also check out the Fire Safety and Street Safety songs for students with cognitive disabilities. They have added an Emotions Color Wheel tool which is an incredible resource to help students visually understand their feelings.
Game Stimulating Productive Dialogue About Race and EthnicityDeveloped by a cultural anthropologist, the two-player Who Am I? Race Awareness Game is designed to stimulate a productive dialogue between adults/educators and children regarding the complex and sensitive issues of race and ethnicity in a multicultural world. In the game, one player selects a target picture of a real person; the other player then asks “yes or no” questions to figure out who was picked.
NewsFeed Defenders iCivics in unveils a new information literacy game
Race To Ratify is a brand-new game from iCivics – they unveiled it today.Race to Ratify drops you into 1787, where the ink is still drying on the new Constitution. Will it become the law of the land or will it fall into the dustbin of history? The fate of the young nation is in your hands! Dive deep into the heated national debate over the future of a radical new plan for American government. Travel across the 13 states to hear from a diverse and opinionated cast of characters and use what you have learned to influence others through the social media of the time… pamphlets.
Third World Farmer
UN World Food Force (must download full game)
Food Force 2
Quandary (www.quandarygame.org) It's a free game designed to develop ethical thinking skills such as empathy and perspective taking.
World Rescue is a narrative, research-based video game inspired by the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. Through fast-paced gameplay set in Kenya, Norway, Brazil, India, and China, students meet five young heroes and help them solve global problems—such as displacement, disease, deforestation, drought, and pollution at the community level.
Cantor’s World game educates people about the Inclusive Wealth Index (IWI) and the way it complements other indices. In the game, players experiment with policy choices and experience firsthand the tug-of-war between short-term results and long-term sustainability. Participants play the role of the sole architect of a country and decide the specific targets for their respective countries.
Free Rice is the “granddaddy” of “cause-related” games. If you choose the correct definition of the word, the next word you’re given is “harder.” If you answer incorrectly, the next word is supposed to be “easier.” In addition, for every word you get correct, ten grains of rice are donated to an international aid agency. Free Rice recently expanded its game and now has questions related to grammar, geography, art, foreign language and math, too.
Spent: Spent asks players to consider what life would be like as a homeless person. The game puts you in the shoes of someone who has lost their life savings, and has you choose one of three low-paying jobs to see for yourself how quickly your money runs out.
Gwap - games with a purpose.
World Freedom Atlas Map
World Hunger Map (Interactive)
G4C Toolkit
A toolkit for those interested in building games for social change.
Sorting Out Notions About Race
"What is race?" teacher Jill Spain asked her sixth-graders at the beginning of their Holocaust unit. Not surprisingly, they found it hard to answer the question, and Spain saw that she needed to change course. "I flipped on my Smart Board and brought up the section called 'Sorting People'. It provides photos of 20 people. The objective is to look at them and sort them into racial categories. ... All 22 of my students were confident that they could complete this task with ease. What happened next was both shocking and powerful."
3rd World Farmer: This game was originally created by students at the IT-University in Copenhagen in 2005. The player is put in control of an African farm and must struggle to keep family, crops, and livestock alive while conflict and a lack of resources work against them. The designers’ hope is that people will play and realize how precarious survival is for many in Africa, and then do what they can to improve the lives of poor people there.
Spent: (gr 7 - 12) Provocative, first-person look at poverty builds empathy
September 12th: A Toy World: The rules are simple: you can choose to shoot rockets at terrorists, or not. But be warned, missing civilians is virtually impossible. The purpose of this newsgame is to visually prove that the U.S. War on Terror is destined to failure, as every civilian killed results in dozens of terrorists created. It has been shown all over the world as a teaching tool against violence.
Citizen Science: Back to the Future meets the EPA in this game, where players travel back in time to investigate what led to the local lake’s pollution and what they can do to prevent it in the future. The game is meant to illustrate the social factors that contribute to environmental harm.
WeTopia: Such big names as Mattel, Clorox, and DeGeneres have lent their support to this game that’s like Farmville for a cause. Players build communities and accumulate "Joy" as a form of currency, which they can then donate in-game to real-life causes. When those causes reach 100% joy, the game’s developer donates real cash to the organization that was earned through player purchases and advertising revenue.
Sweatshop: Sweatshop takes things one step further by incorporating humor, albeit black, into its message. The game begins by showing you a factory floor filled with crying or injured children who make high-end sneakers. Then it guides you through a series of choices you must make as the factory manager. As you decide whether to give your workers a safe working environment or focus on your bottom line, hopefully you will begin to wonder what kind of conditions the clothes you’re wearing came from.
On the Ground Reporter: The first in the "On the Ground Reporter" series, this game brings players face to face with the shocking footage of hostilities in Darfur. The in-game objective is to find the truth and the story, but the overall goal is to expose people to the harsh realities of conflicts like that that just ended in Darfur.
Fate of the World: The whole world is in your hands. This award-winning game forces you to deal with crises like natural disasters and a growing global population. By playing through the different scenarios, players get a sense of the real challenges the world could face in the next few generations.
Activate is designed to provide teachers and students with immersive and effective tools for learning about civic issues. In the game, students campaign for an issue of their choice, become a local leader, and start a national movement
Cards Against Humanity describes their game:In Cards Against Calamity, you take on the role of mayor of a small coastal town. You must balance the needs of various stakeholder groups, from fishermen to tourists and small business owners, while protecting the town from job loss, pollution, hurricanes, and hipsters. Do you have what it takes?
“HARMONY SQUARE” IS AN ONLINE GAME DESIGNED TO TEACH TEENS ABOUT DISINFORMATION
iThrive Games Grades 9 - 12 Games empower teens to discover and use their unique strengths, unlock their potential, and take charge of their well-being. "iThrive Sim's suite of role-playing simulation games meet the moment, providing relevant game-based learning experiences that make media literacy, history, and civics educationcome alive in high school social studies and humanities classrooms."
Game That Emphasizes Building a More Peaceful World
Minecraft has released an immersive educational game called Active Citizen, in partnership with the Nobel Peace Center and Games for Change. The goal of the game is to help educate youth worldwide about Nobel Peace Prize laureates, past and present, and foster an understanding of the skills needed to drive positive change in the world..
Do to Learn - Free Feelings and Emotions Games, excellent for social skills instruction, also check out the Fire Safety and Street Safety songs for students with cognitive disabilities. They have added an Emotions Color Wheel tool which is an incredible resource to help students visually understand their feelings.
Game Stimulating Productive Dialogue About Race and EthnicityDeveloped by a cultural anthropologist, the two-player Who Am I? Race Awareness Game is designed to stimulate a productive dialogue between adults/educators and children regarding the complex and sensitive issues of race and ethnicity in a multicultural world. In the game, one player selects a target picture of a real person; the other player then asks “yes or no” questions to figure out who was picked.
NewsFeed Defenders iCivics in unveils a new information literacy game
Race To Ratify is a brand-new game from iCivics – they unveiled it today.Race to Ratify drops you into 1787, where the ink is still drying on the new Constitution. Will it become the law of the land or will it fall into the dustbin of history? The fate of the young nation is in your hands! Dive deep into the heated national debate over the future of a radical new plan for American government. Travel across the 13 states to hear from a diverse and opinionated cast of characters and use what you have learned to influence others through the social media of the time… pamphlets.
Third World Farmer
UN World Food Force (must download full game)
Food Force 2
Quandary (www.quandarygame.org) It's a free game designed to develop ethical thinking skills such as empathy and perspective taking.
World Rescue is a narrative, research-based video game inspired by the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. Through fast-paced gameplay set in Kenya, Norway, Brazil, India, and China, students meet five young heroes and help them solve global problems—such as displacement, disease, deforestation, drought, and pollution at the community level.
Cantor’s World game educates people about the Inclusive Wealth Index (IWI) and the way it complements other indices. In the game, players experiment with policy choices and experience firsthand the tug-of-war between short-term results and long-term sustainability. Participants play the role of the sole architect of a country and decide the specific targets for their respective countries.
Free Rice is the “granddaddy” of “cause-related” games. If you choose the correct definition of the word, the next word you’re given is “harder.” If you answer incorrectly, the next word is supposed to be “easier.” In addition, for every word you get correct, ten grains of rice are donated to an international aid agency. Free Rice recently expanded its game and now has questions related to grammar, geography, art, foreign language and math, too.
Spent: Spent asks players to consider what life would be like as a homeless person. The game puts you in the shoes of someone who has lost their life savings, and has you choose one of three low-paying jobs to see for yourself how quickly your money runs out.
Gwap - games with a purpose.
World Freedom Atlas Map
World Hunger Map (Interactive)
G4C Toolkit
A toolkit for those interested in building games for social change.
Sorting Out Notions About Race
"What is race?" teacher Jill Spain asked her sixth-graders at the beginning of their Holocaust unit. Not surprisingly, they found it hard to answer the question, and Spain saw that she needed to change course. "I flipped on my Smart Board and brought up the section called 'Sorting People'. It provides photos of 20 people. The objective is to look at them and sort them into racial categories. ... All 22 of my students were confident that they could complete this task with ease. What happened next was both shocking and powerful."
3rd World Farmer: This game was originally created by students at the IT-University in Copenhagen in 2005. The player is put in control of an African farm and must struggle to keep family, crops, and livestock alive while conflict and a lack of resources work against them. The designers’ hope is that people will play and realize how precarious survival is for many in Africa, and then do what they can to improve the lives of poor people there.
Spent: (gr 7 - 12) Provocative, first-person look at poverty builds empathy
September 12th: A Toy World: The rules are simple: you can choose to shoot rockets at terrorists, or not. But be warned, missing civilians is virtually impossible. The purpose of this newsgame is to visually prove that the U.S. War on Terror is destined to failure, as every civilian killed results in dozens of terrorists created. It has been shown all over the world as a teaching tool against violence.
Citizen Science: Back to the Future meets the EPA in this game, where players travel back in time to investigate what led to the local lake’s pollution and what they can do to prevent it in the future. The game is meant to illustrate the social factors that contribute to environmental harm.
WeTopia: Such big names as Mattel, Clorox, and DeGeneres have lent their support to this game that’s like Farmville for a cause. Players build communities and accumulate "Joy" as a form of currency, which they can then donate in-game to real-life causes. When those causes reach 100% joy, the game’s developer donates real cash to the organization that was earned through player purchases and advertising revenue.
Sweatshop: Sweatshop takes things one step further by incorporating humor, albeit black, into its message. The game begins by showing you a factory floor filled with crying or injured children who make high-end sneakers. Then it guides you through a series of choices you must make as the factory manager. As you decide whether to give your workers a safe working environment or focus on your bottom line, hopefully you will begin to wonder what kind of conditions the clothes you’re wearing came from.
On the Ground Reporter: The first in the "On the Ground Reporter" series, this game brings players face to face with the shocking footage of hostilities in Darfur. The in-game objective is to find the truth and the story, but the overall goal is to expose people to the harsh realities of conflicts like that that just ended in Darfur.
Fate of the World: The whole world is in your hands. This award-winning game forces you to deal with crises like natural disasters and a growing global population. By playing through the different scenarios, players get a sense of the real challenges the world could face in the next few generations.