Serious Games: their potential as tools for international NGOs
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Serious Games: their potential as tools for international NGOs; NetHope Gaming Working Group April 2012
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Serious Games: their potential as tools for international NGOs
- 1. Serious Games Their potential as tools for international NGOs
- 2. GWG Goals for the Year Identify and address the challenges that keep INGOs from entering the gaming space Develop a better sense of where and how NGOs can participate in gaming Create a community of practice where the knowledge, human, and network resources are easily accessible Others?
- 3. Thought Questions Who at your organization is most interested in this effort? Programs PR/Communications Training Does your organization have ideas about how and where to use games? What do you feel are the hurdles that keep you from participating in a gaming project? What is the appropriate role for INGOs in this space?
- 4. What are serious games? “Serious games involve the use of electronic games technologies and methodologies for primary purposes other than entertainment” Games + Social Purpose= Serious Games Academic learning, job training, health education, simulations, youth outreach, etc.
- 6. Why are we here? Source: The Civic Potential of Video Games, Joseph Kahne, Ellen Middaugh, & Chris Evans
- 7. Playing most of these behavior-change video games led to a broad spectrum of desirable outcomes from knowledge increases, to attitude changes, behavior changes, and other health- related changes. Source: Playing for Real: Video Games and Stories for Health-Related Behavior Change, Tom Baranowski, PhD, Richard Buday, FAIA, Debbe I. Thompson, PhD, and Janice Baranowski, MPH Darfur is Dying was played more the 700,000 times in the first month; tens of thousands of players entered the “take action” portion of the game. Source: Entertainment and Society: Influences, Impact, and Innovation,
- 8. Some Pros and Cons of Games
- 9. What could we do with games? Awareness/fundraising Education and learning Training Behavior change Others?
- 10. Why games? Games are good at teaching Can be modified easily to people how complex systems reach other locations work Can be tailored to the player Appeals to youth ability—give them something hard enough to challenge Allows players to try, fail, and them, but not so hard that try again they fail Can go viral, reaching a large Create a safe space to audience address sensitive issues Can have multiple touches Is an engaging form of (i.e. people interact with the learning material multiple times) Others? Provide opportunity for M&E
- 11. Potential for international expansion Increased internet availability Increased cell phone usage worldwide Over 545 million working cell phones in India, with a projected 1 billion by 2015. Ability to reach out to adolescents
- 12. Successful Serious Games Jane McGonigal, creator of EVOKE Multiple platforms Real-world application and impact
- 13. Darfur is Dying Developed by mtvU and the Reebok Human Rights Foundation and the International Crisis Group. A look into the experience of 2.5 million refugees in the Sudan Played more the 700,000 times in the first month; tens of thousands of players entered the “take action” portion of the game.
- 14. WFP Food Force Produced by the World Food Programme to show the challenges of delivering food during a humanitarian crisis. Has been downloaded over 6 million times, with an estimated 10 million players since its initial release in 2005.
- 15. Half the Sky Games The Half the Sky Foundation created a series of cell phone games in India and East Africa Targeted adolescents 9 Minutes, Worm Attack!
- 16. The Game Making Process The team: Game designers Programmers Artists Technical directors Subject Matter Experts (SME) Instructional designers
- 17. Steps in the process: Need Identification Fundraising Potential Areas for INGO Involvement
- 18. Game costs Varies widely depending on the game platform, size, intended audience, etc. Facebook games Mobile phone apps Professional quality flash-based multiplayer online games
- 19. Thought Questions Who is most interested in this effort? Programs PR/Communications Training Does your organization have ideas about how and where to use games? What do you feel are the hurdles that keep you from participating in a gaming project What is the appropriate role for INGOs in this space?
Hinweis der Redaktion
- Goals for serious games span a wide range. These include academic learning, health education, simulations, etc. In the context of NGOs specifically, serious games tend to focus on skills training, outreach to youth, youth awareness, youth empowerment, and application to real-world context.
- Article from NYT:Henry Jenkins, an MITprofessor who studies games and learning, said the medium has matured along with the young people who were raised on it. “The generation that grew up with Super Mario is entering the workplace, entering politics, so they see games as just another good tool to use to communicate,” he added. “If games are going to be a mature medium, they’re going to serve a variety of functions. It’s like with film. We think first of using it for entertainment, but then also for education and advertising and politics...”Other sources point out a number of other benefits to video games as learning tools. Just in time learning: video games give players as much info as they need and can use immediately, rather than overloading them with info that isn’t yet relevant. Critical thinking: anyone playing a game has to figure out the rules and act accordingly, meaning they need to continually develop their approach. Increased memory retention: Because video games involve critical thinking, the lessons learned are more easily remembered than something that was passively observed. Emotional interest: We remember things that interest us. By engaging us emotionally, video games hold a player’s interest for longer. One of the benefits of using serious games is that a game can be altered to suit local and cultural context relatively easily. For example, the narrative language, music, and even character design can be changed for the needs of a particular community.For sensitive issues such as HIV/AIDS education, more conservative societies are reticent to allow peer counselors or prohibit them altogether. Peer to peer counseling has proven to be one of the more effective methods of education. Gaming provides an ideal middle ground. For projects that include, for example, an online forum where players can chat anonymously, players can have their questions answered effectively while maintaining their privacy. One of the more expensive aspects of game production is marketing and distribution. Serious games will cost less than traditional commercial games to distribute because in many cases they can piggyback on pre-existing infrastructure. This can be youth centers, health clinics, schools, or anywhere else NGOs already have a presence in an area. NGOs can essentially provide access to a pre-existing network to get the word out about a game (particularly in developing countries). An IYCE study on Serious Games Program research from 2011 noted that some platforms, such as Facebook, have the potential for “viral impact.” This means that Facebook, as the world’s most dominant social networking platform, has a mainstream reach that can use social network channels to have a far-reaching impact in a short amount of time.Learning through images: Humans are primarily visually-oriented, and are far better at retaining images than any other type of input. This is one of the most important benefits of video games, because a lesson is only good for as long as it’s remembered. http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2011/06/the-case-for-videogames-as-powerful-tools-for-learning164.html
- Video game consoles are far more common in developed nations than in the developing world. The availability of internet access has greatly increased over the past few years. The most quickly expanding market, however, is cell phones. According to a UN report, there are over 545 million working cell phones in India, with a projected 1 billion by 2015. The ubiquity of cell phones in developing countries presents a massive new audience that was previously much more difficult to access. Many of those purchasing cell phones or logging on to the internet are children and teenagers. Adolescents are some of the most at-risk for STDs and related health problems and could benefit the most from educational games. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/19/india-cell-phones-outnumb_n_543146.html
- One of the better known proponents for serious games is Jane McGonigal, a game designer who created an online game for the World Bank Institute called EVOKE, for which over 19,000 players undertook real-world projects to design and launch their own social enterprises. The game used multiple methods of communication to engage players. For example, players received messages and updates both online and via text. wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704590704576092460302990884.html
- Developed by mtvU and the Reebok Human Rights Foundation and the International Crisis Group. A look into the experience of 2.5 million refugees in the Sudan. Players look for clean water, food, and undertake other tasks faced by refugees. The game was played more the 700,000 times in the first month. Tens of thousands of players entered the “take action” portion of the game, where they could learn more about the crisis in Darfur, send letters to lawmakers, donate to help refugee organizations, etc.
- Produced by the World Food Programme to show the challenges of delivering food during a humanitarian crisis. Players on virtual missions conduct hunger assessments, create balanced nutrition plans on a budget, airdrop food into areas that are difficult to access, interact with different levels of the supply chain, and deal with longer-term development challenges after the initial crisis period. Has been downloaded over 6 million times, with an estimated 10 million players since its initial release in 2005. It has been released in 12 languages.
- The Half the Sky Foundation created a series of cell phone games targeting adolescents in India and East Africa. The games are designed for a simple JAVA-based phone platform, which is most common. Many families share one phone among all members, with adolescents often using their allotted time to play games. Worm Attack! Is aimed at children ages 7 and up. It teaches players how worms are spread, and what can be done to combat them in a simple and engaging way. 9 Minutes is designed to teach pregnant women with low levels of literacy about the do’s-and-don’ts of pregnancy through iconic representations. For example, clinic visits get positive feedback while drinking a glass of beer gets a “thumbs down” from the baby. http://www.gamesforchange.org/2011/10/half-the-sky-mobile-games-update-october-2011/
- Subject Matter Experts (SME) determine what the learning objectives for the game are, provide assessment metrics, and determine the overall instructional style of the game (strategies). Instructionaldesigners take the SME’s input and find the most effective way to introduce it into the gameplay. The Game Designers create the “puzzles, rules, and rewards” players will encounter. Programmers write the code underlying the game. Artists design the look of each component of the game, and there are often many artists working on different aspects of one project. Technical directors are the liaisons between artists and programmers, and usually have knowledge of both fields that allows them to streamline the production process.
- For educational games, the game-making process consists of 5 general steps: Concept development, Design, Implementation, Testing, and Deployment. A team generally consists of game designers, programmers, artists, technical directors, Subject Matter Experts (SME), and instructional designers. http://www.e-games.tech.purdue.edu/GameDevProcess.aspThe game designers, SME, and instructional designer are most involved during the pre-production stage of concept development and design. During the implementation (or Production) stage, most of the work is done by the artists, programmers, and technical directors. Testing and Deployment are the final post-production stages. Testing is carried out by professional and beta testers. The sales and marketing departments of an organization are responsible for game deployment.
- The cost to produce a serious game varies widely depending on the quality, platform, size, and intended audience of the game. Facebook games cost anywhere from $100,000-$300,000 to produce. Simple mobile phone apps can cost as little as a few thousand dollars to as much as $150,000, or according to another source, up to $500,000. The more complex the game, the greater the variety of inputs involved in its production, and the higher the cost. For example, a flash-based multiplayer online game requires a flash server, domain name(s), web and database servers, artists, animators, programmers, game designers, music, sound effects, marketing/advertising, traffic reporting software, customer support, and site maintenance. Some of these are one-time purchases, some depend on the quantity and quality of work provided (many animators charge per frame, and skill level varies), and others are periodic (servers cost around $150/month).