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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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Better understanding Waco, 9-11, and other political events through games?

Posted by Hsing Wei on 12-19-06

Using examples ranging from The Howard Dean for Iowa game to Balance the Planet and JFK Reloaded , Dr. Ian Bogost, an academic / game creator, digs into why video games are especially suited to engage citizens in politics, activism, and advocacy. 

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A brief examination of select video game histories provides interesting illustrations of how playing such games can have a political impact by creating “highly compressed versions of embodied experiences.” Here, Ian Bogost suggests that what is missing from current uses of technology for politics is video games’ dynamic of allowing people to embody complex political positions and engage in political actions they have never experienced.