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.
Over at the excellent Jay Is Games, they're running a "best of" poll for 2006. I'm not sure how much longer it runs (they say they'll start posting results today), but our readers may want to vote for the Simulation category in particular. Nominees there include Molleindustria's The McDonald's Game, my own Airport Security newsgame, and GlobalKids/gameLab's Ayiti: The Cost of Life, all of which we've discussed this year on WCG.
It's actually sort of interesting that Airport Security got categorized in Simulation. It simulates, to be sure, but shares more in common with action or arcade games from a genre perspective. I wonder if any game that addresses a real-world issue just seems like a simulation game by popular opinion. Anyway, we're humbled to be included in the list of nominees!
Update (1/2): Voting is over, the winner in this category is Ayiti: The Cost of Life! Check out all the winners over on the site.
Barred Ronald
Speculative Realism Notes
Alien Phenomenology
Pretty Girls for Nixon
Atari Hacks and Demakes
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