Paper presented at the National Conference Autumn 2011 of JASAG - Japan Association of Simulation and Gaming, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan, 22-23 October 2011.

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JASAG - Japan Association of Simulation and Gaming
National Conference – Fall 2011
Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan, 22-23 October 2011
GAMING FOR DEVELOPMENT - BUILDING AND
APPLYING GAMING/SIMULATION IN THE CONTEXT OF
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Pieter van der Hijden MSc
Sofos Consultancy, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Member of the ISAGA Advisory Council
Ex-chairperson of the ISAGA Board
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AGENDA
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1. INTRODUCTION
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1. INTRODUCTION – ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Relation with Japan:
Master Thesis “Distributed
ICT for
World”
development, ISAGA Board Colleagues
Management consulting on learning and ISAGA Conferences (2003)
Japanese Funds in Trust on
organization, information and government Capacity Building
ict
Center of Expertise Education and ICT Suriname
International Simulation and Dutch Moodle Association International Fab Lab
Gaming Association Association
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2. DEVELOPMENT ISSUES
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2. DEVELOPMENT ISSUES
Categories:
 Frame games that can be loaded with
development specific content
 Games on Global issues and international
cooperation
 Generic games on development issues
 Specific games on development issues
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2. DEVELOPMENT ISSUES – FRAME GAMES
 Example: Dharadam, a
week in the slums of
Dharavi, Mumbai.
 Goal: sensitize social work
students before they go
for practice in the slums.
 Type: online role playing
game based in Cyberdam.
 Author: Pieter van der
Hijden & students for
ISAGA Summerschool.
 http://www.cyberdam.nl
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2. DEVELOPMENT ISSUES – GLOBAL ISSUES
 Example: Evoke, a 10-week “crash course in saving the
world.”
 Goal: to help empower people all over the world to come up
with creative solutions to our most urgent social problems.
 Type: social network game.
 Author: Natron Baxter Applied Gaming
 http://www.urgentevoke.com/
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2. DEVELOPMENT ISSUES – GENERIC GAMES
 Example: HEX, run Hexland
during five years.
 Goal: tool for learning to
allocate resources for
developing governments.
 Type: board game on three
levels.
 Author: Richard Duke &
students for UNESCO.
 http://www.sofos.nl
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2. DEVELOPMENT ISSUES – SPECIFIC GAMES
 Example: Inside Haiti
Earthquake.
 Goal: experience the
earthquake from
perspective of survivor,
journalist and aid worker.
 Type: web-based
interactive simulation,
part of multimedia
campaign.
 Author: PTV productions
 http://www.insidethehaiti
earthquake.com/
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2. DEVELOPMENT ISSUES – CONCLUSION
The examples show:
 A variety of development issues
(global/regional, general/specific) can be
addressed by a variety of gaming technologies.
 Game producers need expertise in technology,
content, gaming, learning & changing.
 Meeting point: Games for Change.
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3. DEVELOPMENT CONTEXT
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3. DEVELOPMENT CONTEXT - FRAMEWORK
Four in Balance
 Vision
 Expertise
 Digital learning materials
 ICT infrastructure
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3. DEVELOPMENT CONTEXT - VISION
 Games can make
learning more
appealing, effective and
efficient; both for
children and adults.
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3. DEVELOPMENT CONTEXT - EXPERTISE
 Teachers need to
master the facilitating
role (again games may
help).
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3. DEVELOPMENT CONTEXT – DIGITAL LEARNING
MATERIALS
 Video games need to be
localized.
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3. DEVELOPMENT CONTEXT – ICT
INFRASTRUCTURE
 Technology– limited, but
improving.
 “The day the big
antenna was switched
on, was the most
important day in my
life”.
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3. DEVELOPMENT CONTEXT - CONCLUSION
Inspiring:
 Games have great
potential for learning.
 Teachers have to learn to
facilitate.
 Games should be
localized.
 ICT infrastructure is
limited, but improves from
year to year.
Note: Data and research
mainly based on developed
countries!
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4. BUILDING GAMES FOR DEVELOPMENT
CONTEXTS
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4. BUILDING GAMES FOR DEVELOPMENT
CONTEXTS
Two appearances of the same game!
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4. BUILDING GAMES FOR DEVELOPMENT
CONTEXTS
Two learning styles implemented in the same game?
Focus on individual learner Focus on collaboration
Source: Jeroen van Merriënboer Source: ISAGA Dharadam game-session
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4. BUILDING GAMES FOR DEVELOPMENT
CONTEXTS
Ladder of localization
Learning goals
Learning styles
Game patterns
Actions
Objects
Visualisation & sound
Language
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4. BUILDING GAMES FOR DEVELOPMENT
CONTEXTS
Developed countries: Developing countries:
 More gaming expertise  More context expertise
 More ICT infrastructure  Errors can be skipped
 Higher wages  Low labour costs
 More financial resources  More social need for
 Mass market for games impoved learning
 Internationalization:  Niche markets for games
Making a game  Localization: adapting a
independent of a specific game to a specific context
context and easy to (country, language, culture)
localize
Multidisciplinary international teams
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SUMMARY
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SUMMARY
Gaming for Development - building and applying
gaming/simulation in the context of developing
countries
 Internationalization and localization are needed
for “developed” games to be used in
“developing” contexts
 Multidisciplinary international teams required
 Inspiration  Realization  Perception 
Evidence  more research needed
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SOFOS CONSULTANCY
Thank you for your attention!
Pieter van der Hijden MSc
pvdh@sofos.nl
2011 – Sofos Consultancy / Pieter van der Hijden (pvdh@sofos.nl) - This work is
licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported
License.
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