Wednesday, May 09th, 2007 - 7:30PM The Home of Lawrence Bender
Bel Air, CA
Our next event is on a new segment of the video game industry known as "Games For Change". Video Games are going to play a major part in many aspects of our society: how future generations of children are educated, how the military conducts its training, how cities are built, how municipal budgets are balanced, how social patterns are manipulated, how people interact, and how knowledge is attained. A new community of game designers have recently formed with the mission of creating video games that enable social change. The potential of these games is huge. For instance, massive multiplayer games, known as MMORPGs, in which players sign-on around the world into a web-based system and play against each other, have the potential to unite individuals across borders and engage them in common causes.
Real-World Examples: A state senator from Massachusetts worked with graduate students to create a game called MassBalance (https://www.playmassbalance.com), and challenged people to balance the state’s budget online. The United Nations World Food Program recently launched Food Force (https://www.food-force.com), a game with over 3 million players worldwide who work to save and rebuild the fictional island of Sheylan, ravished by drought and war. A number of people – or their virtual selves -- come together in an online, multiplayer game