GAMES FOR CHANGE: CASE STUDIES

Michelle Byrd, Asi Burak

August 31, 2012

Case #1:Games in the

classroom

iCIVICS

REACH (since August 2009):- 1.2 million players- 12,000 classrooms- 50 states and Washington DC

EVALUATION:- 78% of students gained a better understanding of how their government worked.- 47% continued playing at home for fun!

Case #2:Games in the

developing world

FREEDOM HIV / AIDS

REACH:- 67 million devices- 10.3 million play sessions- India and 6 East African countries

EVALUATION:- Significant increase in learning- Changes in attitude and safer sex practices

Case #3:Direct action

games

FREE RICE

HOW DOES IT WORK?A multiple choice quiz, for every question you get correct, 10 grains of rice are donated to the World Food Programme.

ON A DAILY BASIS:- 8 million page views- 45 million grains of rice: enough to feed 2,500 people

Case #4:The power of

the many

FOLD IT

TIME MAGAZINE:[In only 10 days,] U.S. gamers … have helped unlock the structure of an AIDS-related enzyme that the scientific community had been unable to unlock for a decade. The solution represents a significant step forward in the quest to cure retroviral diseases like AIDS.

September 9 2011

Case #5:Youth

making games

College/Professional

High School

Middle School

Elementary School

Game Design

Commercial Modding

Tools

C++

Programming

Scaffolded / Constrained Un-scaffolded / Unconstrained

NATIONAL STEM CHALLENGE

SCHOLASTIC ART & WRITING AWARDS

Case #6:Evaluation &

brain research

RE-MISSION

CONCLUSIONS:The video-game intervention significantly improved treatment adherence and indicators of cancer-related self-efficacy and knowledge in adolescents and young adults who were undergoing cancer therapy.

August 2008 edition of the medical journal Pediatric.

RE-MISSION

BRAIN RESEARCH:Several key brain regions were activated when playing Re-Mission, including neural structures involved in emotion and motivation, and learning and memory…

10th International Congress of Behavioral Medicine (ICBM)

Your Game Here_

www.gamesforchange.org

michelle@gamesforchange.org // @mbyrdasi@gamesforchange.org // @aburak