When I was eight years old son told me he was making fun of his friends and fighting bullies in a video game, i was curious. He told me about Kind Kingdom, a game his school librarian recommends. On his computer, my son points his character over to a friend who is bowing and gives the other character a heart. The friend raised his head and smiled. Then my son steers the player along a path and stumbles upon a gnashing bully jumping up and down. A series of quick button presses and the bully was behind bars.
Kind Kingdom made by Interland, a division of Google, and is part of a series of four games instruct players on Internet safety, such as creating strong passwords and interacting online only with trusted friends. I especially like that the lessons can also be widely applied to life.
I’ve found Kind Kingdom listed at Game change, a non-profit organization that promotes and supports creators who are using games for social good. Arana Shapiro, executive director and training director at Games for Change, explains that “Kind Kingdom is a game we recommend because it has a good message. It promotes online safety and media literacy. Games are where children and how people connect. We play and come together. We know that this is the natural state of youth, so we lean on that and use that medium to promote good.”
The Games for Change website serves as a portal for others to find games that can teach, encourage, and inspire. The site is searchable and has age ratings and tags for content, such as grief or mental health, and it’s easy to find more games like Kind Kingdom. For example, Before I forget teaches players about the emotional struggles of living with dementia and has BAFTA Award Nominee. Attention 1942 teaches players about World War II through the eyes of Holocaust survivors. Journey of 1000 cuts change the player’s perspective to better understand racism and discrimination, from naked hatred to transgression. Above all, they are all games that help people understand situations they may not have been in before.
Games for Change was founded in 2004 by Benjamin Stokes, the author of the book Play locally: Real-world games for stronger places and communities; Suzanne Seggerman, a speaker and mentor on new media and social impact; and Barry Joseph, an expert in digital interactionwith a mission to use video games for the good of society and a belief in the ability of games to teach people about history, new skills, etc., without necessarily being branded as “educational”.
Eventually, the team expanded and started working with external game developers like Half the sky from India; Leti game, a Kenyan game company; and Friday, a Canadian developer who also wants to design games with social impact. “Over the past six or seven years, the company has grown steadily because gamification has become so commonplace. We all have a game console in our pocket. We don’t sit in the basement playing games anymore. do you play words or crushed candy? That makes you a gamer,” Shapiro said. “Many of us play games throughout the day, and if used correctly, that method of communication can make a big difference in the empathy people have for others.”
While Games for Change is a great place to find games with social impact, it offers many other functions in the games space and even participates as an executive producer in the game. new projects. For example, mental health is an area rarely explored in video games, and the team is currently working on it. Goliath in a game that puts the player in the shoes of someone with schizophrenia. “There is something about the experience of actually feeling, tasting and touching that gives us a different kind of understanding,” explains Shapiro.
