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Games for Change (G4C) provides support, visibility and shared resources to organizations and individuals using digital games for social change. This is the primary community of practice for those interested in making digital games about the most pressing issues of our day, from poverty to race and the environment. We are the social change/social issues branch of the Serious Games Initiative.

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Parsons Lab Develops Eco Game for EPA

Posted by Hsing Wei on 01-16-07

An eco-game highlighted during the GamesforChange, New School, and NYC Games Scholars’ salon last week sparked some conversation on how to engage players.

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Inspector Carbone allows players to take the role of an agent assigned to clean up Ecoville.  To win, players must convince households in the neighborhoods to reduce their carbon consumption and conserve energy.  Mindful of its target audience, the game is designed to be played on small handhelds like an ipod.  Several interesting questions emerged from the audience including if/how the designers thought about the values they wanted to influence and how that was reflected in the reward structure of the game.  One value the game hopes to convey is that change is not easy; it requires patience and persistance.  How that was technically determined is summarized here.