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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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Political Games Losing Out to Social Networks?

Posted by Hsing Wei on 02-08-08

Are political games a fad that has passed?  Over at Watercooler Games, Ian Bogost posted about his incorrect prediction of the rise of election games in 2008.

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Bogost raises possible reasons why there have been fewer election games than expected: because online videos and social networks are the new “it”, and because of limited investment by the political community in creating new games.  Perhaps the phenomenon of post Superbowl success of Superbowl ads on YouTube hints at a potentially different relationship.  For the savy political game developer, YouTube and social networks could be leveraged by political games to extend player audience.


Aside from election games, a few new political games did launch in recent months, including The SeriousPolicy Game about winning Treasury funding.