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July 24, 2005
Salon Report on "Behind the Scenes of The UN WFP's Food Force" (#4, July 20th)
This salon's photos and audio are available online.
Who says games are not serious? This month’s Games for Change Salon took a peek at The United Nations World Food Program’s (WFP) FoodForce Game. We welcomed Trevor Rowe, North American Spokesperson for the World Food Program’s (who discussed the game and its impact in promoting awareness of the WFP and hunger worldwide.
Suzanne Seggerman of WebLab welcomed the large group in attendance with a special thank you to the Fund for the City of New York, who generously hosted the event. The WFP FoodForce Game initiative is of particular interest to Games for Change as we draw our members from over 20 countries and because poverty is one of the most significant social issues of our time.
According to Mr. Rowe, unlike most UN agencies, WFP does most of its work in the field. The WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian agency, supports 82 countries and fed over 100 million people last year alone! Hunger remains the #1 health threat around the world, and more die each year due to hunger than malaria tuberculosis and HIV/Aids combined. And yet Mr. Rowe commented: “hunger remains a difficult issue for people to focus on.”
Mr. Rowe cited a number of challenges facing the WFP in promoting awareness of hunger. How can the WFP promote awareness without provoking guilt or leaving people feeling affronted or offended? Can they develop support for action above and beyond awareness? The WFP also had a goal of creating a more long-term constituency among youth ages 9-13. And finally, the WFP wanted to make the game as real as possible to expose players to the real decisions and experiences the WFP encounters.
The solution for the WFP involved an active game experience where the real problems facing the WFP on a daily basis are solved. The series of steps in the game included a) an assessment of resources and funding required; b) a view into the hard choices the agency makes with balancing nutrition/diet against supplies; c) the logistics of air dropping food; d) the challenge of delivering food across rough and hostile terrain; and e) a review of the long-term initiatives that the WFP undertakes to not just feed, but rehabilitate the countries through rebuilding roads and schools, replanting, etc.
The result was very successful with 1 million downloads in its first 10 weeks following launch. The FoodForce Game game was also the #1 download on Apple’s website for the first 2 weeks, and in total has been downloaded by 1.5 to 2 million people. The future plans for the FoodForce Game game include promoting its use in schools and releasing it in other languages.
Benjamin Stokes of NetAid demonstrated the game and highlighted its success despite the large download size (220MB), commenting that non-profits should look at downloading as an alternate (and inexpensive) method of distribution. Mr. Stokes also commented on the use of a “Trust Network” to distribute the game. “You have to play it to understand it,” Mr. Stokes noted in comparing the cinematic elements of the game to the interactive components. He noted how the game mixed expository information into the actual game play, reinforcing the message the WFP intended to get across, and that game play was very easy to pick up, with instructions lasting only 5 to 10 seconds.
During the Q&A section, one person suggested tying the game into real-time hunger/health data provided by Bloomberg. The game reportedly cost several hundred thousand dollars to produce. According to Mr. Rowe, the large audience was in part due to very solid PR efforts, and that the national debate regarding video game usage and a natural interest on the part of the media fed the publicity.
When asked about establishing a deeper moral connection with its users beyond just awareness, Mr. Rowe commented: “It’s difficult to establish a moral connection - however you do create a certain level of understanding and empathy for the process of solving this particular problem - there are not just a lot of faceless people out there that are hungry. You’ll walk away knowing that you can do something about it, because you’ve done it. And so the next time someone says you can’t do something about hunger, you’re going to say ‘well, maybe you can.’”
Benjamin Stokes distributed an article that he authored on Serious Games that explores: “three educational opportunities in games - raising public awareness, affecting behavior and empowering learners – and discusses collaborative ways to move the agenda forward.” The article is slated to appear in the June 2005 edition of The Development Education Journal .
Barry Joseph of GlobalKids announced new support from Microsoft for a new initiative. According to Mr. Joseph, the “After School Games Program” will “work with students after school to teach them not only GlobalKids leadership skills but also game design skills. Learn how to combine the two together. And we’ll be working closely with GameLab to produce the game with the students each year.”
Thanks to those who attended, to Mr. Trevor Rowe for his presentation on the WFP's FoodForce Game and to The Fund for the City of New York for hosting the event.
Reminder to all about the upcoming Games for Change Conference scheduled for October 21st/22nd in New York.
[photos and MP3 audio of the Salon will be available soon]
Posted by jtroy at July 24, 2005 11:09 PM