Games offer unique platform for education, social change

Games for Change promotes games in India and other countries that teach women everything from pregnancy do's and don'ts to how to make important family decisions.

Photo Courtesy of Emily Treat

SALT LAKE CITY Whether taking on the role of a Darfurian refugee or experiencing the frustrations of hormone replacement therapy, mobile video games, typically played on cellphones, are having an increasingly widespread impact across the world.

Games that promote social change, such as "9 Minutes" and "Worm Attack," are gaining momentum and support and are continuously being upgraded to reach a worldwide audience that has increasing access to mobile technology. There are 3.5 billion mobile phone users in the world and more than 65 percent of them are in developing countries, according to statistics from Half the Sky, an initiative that implements mobile gaming and is dedicated to helping marginalized women overcome obstacles such as sex trafficking and forced prostitution around the world. These games are part of an innovative effort to reach and educate a widespread audience about political, social, economic and health issues that contribute to global poverty.

Many games being developed are targeting residents in countries and areas like India and East Africa to help educate them and bring modern medical concepts and procedures to largely primitive villages where a family unit has shared access to a phone. Facilitating a healthy pregnancy and treating intestinal worms are just a few of the concepts introduced.

In the game "Darfur Is Dying," developed by interFuel and funded by Reebok Human Rights Foundation, players can assume the role of a refugee in Darfur, and in "Sweatshop," developed by Littleloud, players become the boss of an offshore sweatshop to better understand some of the world's biggest problems. Each game is unique but most are filled with facts and information about a particular topic and provide educational and translated dialogue for players.

"Games excel at certain things, but they're definitely not a silver bullet for tackling educational or social challenges," said gaming expert and developer Josh Spiro, who regularly blogs about these games. "Games are great at creating empathy by putting the player in someone else's shoes. Whether you're playing as a Darfurian refugee or a chemotherapy drug fighting cancer cells, you get a more visceral understanding of the subject than you would from another medium."

Games for Change

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Games offer unique platform for education, social change