Super Mario for change?

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How the art of gaming can make a real life difference.

In one of the first e-mails through the Year Of Diversity list I found a link to take part in an online game called Evoke. Since I find online games usually quite uninspiring , I couldn't be bothered to dig into the game concept after looking at the introductory comic strip. Besides, I couldn't quite grasp, why I should play a game to change the world?

A few days ago, however, I watched yet another TED talk* and Jane McGonical explains the concept behind Evoke, and suddenly it all makes sense!




Quite impressive, how the simple concept of collecting points and reaching levels can make such a difference. But being fairly competetive myself, I can see how people engage in this.

The idea also reminded me of Jesse Schell's talk that inspired me to award "CISV-Points" inside the "CISV & Me"-application I set up for facebook. Also GOOD magazine recently ran a similar story, refering to a game called Armchair Revolutionary.

I'm still don't think I'll ever play Evoke - but maybe somebody reading this can tell us, what it's like.

*yes, I know, this blog should be renamed into "From the TED Conference", but seriously, almost every one is mind-blowing and relates to CISV one way or another

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This page contains a single entry by Nick published on May 3, 2010 3:01 PM.

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