Ian Bogost - Water Cooler Games - International Debt Relief Game

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Water Cooler Games

Water Cooler Games served as the web's primary forum for "videogames with an agenda" — coverage of the uses of video games in advertising, politics, education, and other everyday activities, outside the sphere of entertainment.

The site was maintained at watercoolergames.org from 2003-2009, where it was edited by myself and Gonzalo Frasca. It is now archived here in full.

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International Debt Relief Game

by Ian Bogost May 22, 2004

categories: Educational Games , Political Games , Public Policy Games

Baltimore agency The Berndt Group created Bridging the Divide, a game meant to teach players about International debt relief, for an unnamed international institution. Here's the blurb from their website:

We designed this interactive, educational Flash 5 game for an international institutional client to serve as a teaching tool for children from ages 8-13. "Bridging the Divide: Understanding International Debt Relief" is designed to educate and raise awareness about debt problems in other nations and how to build strategies to aid and assist those in need.

The game asks players questions about debt relief. A number of random events and different gameplay paradigms keep the game interactive and fun.

Great idea to use a game, but I really wish it weren't a quiz game. It would be more effective, I think, to teach about the conditions for debt relief through rule interactions.

(thanks to Jason for the link)