<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1522" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY
style="WORD-WRAP: break-word; khtml-nbsp-mode: space; khtml-line-break: after-white-space"
bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Dear Rik and all:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Also briefly, I post in resonance having just
attended the DigiLife Expo at Javitz Center in New York City precisely to sample
other views of infospace. It was largely gaming tournaments, the
excitement of which is for other e-lists but the portent of which may apply here
- hence this post. Encouraging: between rounds of ragewar and space feuds,
and a few peace related graphics wonderland tourneys, quite a few attendees
asked: what? WSIS? What's that? Considering that these youth are the
future, I found this quite encouraging. I hope my responses over the 'DigiDin'
there sufficed in that context. Quite a few of them gave email addresses
and asked for links. A Press Pass as U.N. NGO. What more can we
ask?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>:) LDMF.</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=rikp@earthlink.net href="mailto:rikp@earthlink.net">Rik
Panganiban</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=plenary@wsis-cs.org
href="mailto:plenary@wsis-cs.org">plenary@wsis-cs.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, October 17, 2005 2:39
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [WSIS CS-Plenary]
Not-so-serious-news: "Video Game World Gives Peace a Chance"</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">Ok, so it doesn't relate to Tunis directly, but still
an interesting project to try and develop computer games that teach
cooperation and peaceful resolution of conflict. I personally loved
playing the "Food Force" game put out by the World Food Programme last
year.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><BR class=khtml-block-placeholder></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">The hard part of course is making the games
fun.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><BR class=khtml-block-placeholder></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">Rik Panganiban</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><BR class=khtml-block-placeholder></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">===================================</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><BR class=khtml-block-placeholder></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><A href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/"><FONT
class=Apple-style-span size=3><SPAN class=Apple-style-span
style="FONT-SIZE: 13px"><B>washingtonpost.com</B></SPAN></FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV style="MIN-HEIGHT: 19px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 16px Times"><FONT
class=Apple-style-span face=Helvetica size=3><SPAN class=Apple-style-span
style="FONT-SIZE: 12px"><A
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/15/AR2005101500218_pf.html">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/15/AR2005101500218_pf.html</A><BR></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MIN-HEIGHT: 19px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 16px Times"><FONT
class=Apple-style-span face=Helvetica size=3><SPAN class=Apple-style-span
style="FONT-SIZE: 12px"><BR class=khtml-block-placeholder></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Times size=6><SPAN
class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 24px"><B>Video Game World Gives Peace
a Chance</B></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Times
size=3><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 13px">By Mike
Musgrove<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Times size=3><SPAN
class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 13px">Washington Post Staff
Writer<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Times size=3><SPAN
class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 13px">Sunday, October 16, 2005;
F01</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MIN-HEIGHT: 19px; MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px; FONT: 16px Times"><BR></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Times
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">Parents who worry
that video games are teaching kids to settle conflicts with blasters and
bloodshed can take heart: A new generation of video games wants to save the
world through peace and democracy.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Times
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">A team at Carnegie
Mellon University is working on an educational computer game that explores the
Mideast conflict -- you win by negotiating peace between Israelis and
Palestinians. This spring, the United Nations' World Food Programme released
an online game in which players must figure out how to feed thousands of
people on a fictitious island.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Times
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">This weekend, the
University of Southern California is kicking off a competition to develop a
game that promotes international goodwill toward the United States, a kind of
Voice of America for the gamer set.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Times
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">And lest anyone
think only professors and policy wonks are involved, a unit of MTV this week
announced a contest to come up with a video game that fights genocide in
Darfur, Sudan.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Times
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">Internet-based
computer games, in which players create characters in a virtual world and
interact to solve problems or win battles, are branching out from fantasy into
serious social issues. Academics recognize their power as a new form of mass
entertainment, and activists hope to tap into their enormous worldwide
popularity to reach a new generation used to interacting through
computers.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Times
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">"It's been kind of
a surprise for us. It just took off," said Jennifer Parmelee, a spokeswoman
for the U.N.'s food program.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Times
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">So popular was the
U.N.'s game, titled Food Force, Yahoo had to step in as a Web host for the
game when swarms of Internet users converged on </SPAN></FONT><A
href="http://www.food-force.com/"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Times
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px"><FONT
class=Apple-style-span
color=#0029ed>http://www.food-force.com/</FONT></SPAN></FONT></A><FONT
class=Apple-style-span face=Times size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span
style="FONT-SIZE: 16px"> and accidentally knocked it off-line. The game, which
Parmelee said was initially regarded with skepticism within the U.N., has been
downloaded 2 million times since its launch.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Times
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">Stephen Friedman,
general manager of an MTV channel shown on college campuses, said he thinks
his network's contest could help spread awareness of Darfur to young people
who are interested in games but who don't follow world
events.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Times
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">"Activism needs to
be rethought and reinvented with each generation," he said. "This is a
generation that lives online -- what better way to have an effect?" The
network is promising a $50,000 prize to the student or team of students that
comes up with the best idea.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Times
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">Carnegie Mellon's
project, called PeaceMaker, is led by an Israeli citizen named Asi Burak, who
has sought input from both sides of the conflict for the game his team is
building. In it, players take a role as an Israeli or Palestinian leader
charged with bringing peace to the region. Use too much military force and the
region falls into violence -- but give too many concessions quickly and a
leader risks assassination.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Times
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">"We want to prove
that video games can be serious and deal with meaningful issues," said Burak,
who will be lecturing about it at the Serious Games conference in Washington
next month, a get-together dedicated to introducing game makers to potential
clients interested in educational games.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Times
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">Edward Castronova,
a professor at the University of Indiana who has written a book about the
dynamics of virtual worlds, said he wishes the State Department would invest
in an immersive online game that would appeal to teenagers across the globe --
a game in which players could participate in an online world governed by
democratic principles.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Times
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">"It would just
have one feature," he said, " </SPAN></FONT><FONT class=Apple-style-span
face=Times size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span
style="FONT-SIZE: 16px"><I>live</I></SPAN></FONT><FONT class=Apple-style-span
face=Times size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">
democracy. </SPAN></FONT><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Times size=4><SPAN
class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px"><I>See</I></SPAN></FONT><FONT
class=Apple-style-span face=Times size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span
style="FONT-SIZE: 16px"> what it's like when issues get resolved through
peaceful voting and transition of power.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Times
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">"Games give you
the opportunity to live a culture and I think that is dramatically more
powerful and persuasive than a million leaflets or 60,000 Peace Corps
volunteers."</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Times
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">A State Department
official said the agency doesn't have plans to make such an
investment.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Times
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">"We are not
generally a source of funding for experimental technology," said Jeremy
Curtin, senior adviser to the undersecretary of state for public diplomacy.
"But we are very interested in what the private sector is doing in terms of
creative use of technologies."</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Times
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">USC professors
Joshua Fouts and Douglas Thomas, the organizers of that school's contest, have
discussed the project with State Department officials and hope to get a
policymaker on their judging panel. The contest winner will be announced on
the eve of a video game industry conference in Los Angeles next
year.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Times
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">The two said their
contest was inspired by playing and exploring the virtual world of an online
game called Star Wars Galaxies, which lets players around the world log on and
participate in the universe of the "Star Wars" movies. They found that many
players from other countries had a negative view of Americans, an impression
that sometimes became more positive as they played cooperatively with players
based in the United States.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Times
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">"It's a virtual
exchange program," said Fouts, who worked at Voice of America for six years
before becoming the director of USC's Center on Public
Diplomacy.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Times
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">The biggest
challenge for programmers entering the contest might be one that policymakers
and activists have never had to think about: The game will have to be fun.
After all, the loftiest and most educational game in the world won't have much
positive result if nobody plays it.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Times
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">David Tucker, a
computer science major at the University of Maryland who hopes to land a job
in game design, said he didn't know whether he'd want to play such a game or
not. "I guess it would depend on the quality of the game," he said. "I know I
have played games that don't have violence but are enjoyable." After a short
pause, he added, "I can't think of any at the moment."</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Times
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">"If you write a
boring book and people stop on page two, it has no impact," said Jesse H.
Ausubel, a director at the Richard Lounsbery Foundation, which provided
$125,000 in funds to sponsor USC's contest.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Times
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">Is democracy
"fun"? Castronova thinks aspiring game designers should have more than enough
to work with for such a project. "You could look at the U.S. Constitution as a
big game," he said. "We've been playing it for 200 years. And we love
it."</SPAN></FONT></P>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px; TEXT-ALIGN: center"><FONT class=Apple-style-span
face=Times size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span
style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">© 2005 The Washington Post
Company</SPAN></FONT></DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>