Social Impact Games

Posted by Zonk on Monday September 20, 2004 @02:00AM from the game-your-homework dept.

TeachingMachines writes "If you are interested in the cultural potential of gaming you might want to check out Social Impact Games. It's a site that catalogs links to over 200 games that are entertaining but not necessarily designed for the purpose of entertainment. For example, the Monkey Wrench Conspiracy is a first-person shooter game designed to teach mechanical design engineers to use 3-D CAD software. A game titled Incident Commander will model situations that include acts of terrorism, school hostage crises, and natural disasters."

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Ultima IV was disqualified, I guess by YetAnotherName · 2004-09-20 05:15 · Score: 4, Insightful

There's a surprising number of games listed on that site, but no Ultima IV, apparently because its first goal was to entertain and not enlighten/educate/etc.. However, a large number of players took to heart the system of virtues expounded in the game; even to this day I evaluate myself as "high in compassion" but "lacking in spirituality." Social impact? A lot of pimply-faced youths were at least exposed to the concept of virtue and its value to civilization.

(Incidentally, Ultima IV fans may wish to check out the remake projecet.)