Greenpeace edu-games

http://www.greenpeace.org/new-zealand/en/Multimedia/goodies/Games/

After seeing the odditiy that was “Cooking Mama Kills Animals” by PETA in last weeks lecture, I was interested to see if any other not-for-profit organisations had delved into the edu-game realm, and if so if they had created anything less bizarre than that game. Among the sites I looked up, the Greenpeace website was the only site with more than one game available to play.

Unlike the PETA games, which rely heavily on the procedural rhetoric being conveyed through disturbing visuals and the like, the Greenpeace games were what you would, I guess, expect from such an organisation. There are 13 games in total… A mixture of puzzles, platforms, purely factual trivia games, and specially designed games.

The Greenpeace games did not (as PETA did) seem to aim to have a major affect on the player, shocking them into the ideologies. Instead, the main aims of the games appear to be to impart facts and information about Greenpeace missions and environmental concerns. The games are designed for people who have gone onto their website being interested in Greenpeace, and wanting to learn more.

One game named “La Hague: Block that pipe!” (Which I found exceedingly difficult!) involves navigating a submarine through a rocky underwater setting in order to block the discharge of the La Hague pipe. The game has an optional background to the issue of nuclear discharge, especially from the La Hague pipe, so players are provided with a reasoned context for the game. Other than informing the player of this issue, the game functions as an informational “What we do” activity.

In contrast to the reasoned nature of “La Hague,” the site also features some comic games such as “Spank Esso” and “Led by the nose- George Bush”. These games do little more than inform you of the issue of concern, and let you have a bit of fun while doing it. “Spank Esso” seemed interesting to me, as it is there to allow already informed people let out anger they have towards the corporation.

Overall, the Greenpeace games seem effective learning tools to me as they are not extremist, and they achieve (what seems to be) their aim of conveying a basic understanding of their missions and aims, and raising interest in them. The games were (mostly) fun, and I can definitely say that I learnt a few facts through playing them. These games proved that organisations can effectively use games as an education tool, which may not have the largest of impacts, but are certainly worthwhile.