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2005-12-22 -Short Attention Span Theater-

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Posted by ElvisHasLeftTheBuilding 2005-12-22 12:29|| || Front Page|| [5 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 "Food Force" is a free online game from the United Nations World Food Program that sends children ages 8 to 13 on six realistic aid missions.

So are they sent as aid workers or refugees forced to trade sex for food? With the UN, it's hard to tell, and the age range is about right for the UN.

Posted by Robert Crawford">Robert Crawford 2005-12-22 13:06|| http://www.kloognome.com/]">[http://www.kloognome.com/] 2005-12-22 13:06|| Front Page Top

#2 Instead they should make a game like Tropico, a simulated nation where the UN folks try to bilk all the money they can and keep the dictator in power. That would not only be realistic but fun.

Posted by rjschwarz 2005-12-22 13:22|| 2005-12-22 13:22|| Front Page Top

#3 Breakaway games, BTW is run by some folks originally from Microprose, who published Civ2. In addition to this serious games initiative, they worked with Firaxis on the Sid Meiers Gettysburg/Antietam games, published their own Napoleonic games using the SMG engine, and worked with Firaxis on the scenarios in Civ3:Conquests.

Posted by liberalhawk 2005-12-22 13:25|| 2005-12-22 13:25|| Front Page Top

#4 "Breakaway Games Ltd., a video gamemaker, his company is producing "A Force More Powerful," in which players use peaceful means to unseat a dictator in 10 fictitious scenarios. The game will be released in February"

BTW, I once discussed this particular game with a Brit leftie on a gaming forum - he expressed concern it was "a neocon game" - hoo boy!!

Posted by liberalhawk 2005-12-22 13:27|| 2005-12-22 13:27|| Front Page Top

#5 Mr. Rejeski advocates the establishment of a "Corporation for Public Gaming" that would stimulate the development of serious games the way the Corporation for Public Broadcasting developed noncommercial TV.

Bzzzt!

If there's a public organization that sees a need for a "game", they can already do it. See "America's Army" and "Incident Commander" for examples. All the establishment of a specialized bureaucracy would do is allow the process to be easily politicized and to support the production of unneeded crap at taxpayer's expense.

Much like the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has done, come to think of it.

Posted by Robert Crawford">Robert Crawford 2005-12-22 13:57|| http://www.kloognome.com/]">[http://www.kloognome.com/] 2005-12-22 13:57|| Front Page Top

#6 Jim Dunnigan is popular on this site. Ask him about the SPI game Firefight sometime. It was commissioned by the US Army, and so it was made impossible for the US side to lose.

Posted by Eric Jablow">Eric Jablow 2005-12-22 17:41|| 2005-12-22 17:41|| Front Page Top

#7 I don't play many games. Most of them don't interest me. I've never been one for the shoot-everything-in-sight games. The game I enjoy the most is "Railroad Tycoon". I designed a similar game to "teach history, economics, and political science", but my poor programming skills kept me from ever developing it. The only "war" game I've played more than once or twice was "Descent".

There are precedents for using games to teach. I'm not against that. I'm just against trying to use them for indoctrination purposes instead of teaching. I think both the UN game and some of these others may be designed to push something other than intellectually honest information.

Posted by Old Patriot">Old Patriot 2005-12-22 19:22|| http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/]">[http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/] 2005-12-22 19:22|| Front Page Top

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