Learn Something...Go Play Online

     Social Issues are not a game. Yet they can be turned into games. This can be figurative nowadays but also literal. There are games today that teach different age groups about social issues....about anything really. I had played 4 educational games found online.

• Climate Change
• Stop Disasters
• MedMyst Original: Mission 1 Orientation at O.R.B.
• Engineering - Design a Cell Phone

The first three deal with social issues while the last game is also educational but deals with business and design. 

Game 1: Climate Change

     Climate Change is a role play game where the player is the President of the European Nations. As President the player must make policy decisions regrading the nations as a whole, local communities, agriculture, trade, and environment. 

• Target age group: Late teenagers to adults

Younger children would not understand all the policies. Late teenagers and even adults may not but they understand that leaders make these decisions.

• List three specific concepts/things the designers are trying to teach the player:

1. World policies
2. Outcomes of leader actions
3. Importance of carbon emissions 

• What is successful (or not) about the game. What could you do to improve the game?: 

     It is successful that it gives real life decisions that a world leader has. I would improve the rounds that player must go through due to the fact the options did not change much but good to see that a previous option is no longer available due to a previous decision. Present decisions affect the future. 

Game 2: Stop Disasters 

     Stop Disasters is a game where the player can pick a natural disaster scenario and try to save lives. This is done through building housing and defences. 

• Target age group of this game: middle school to high school students 

Adults would already know defences against natural disasters and I feel would be bored with game. To middle school and high school students it would be more of a challenge so they would play the game all the way through. 

• List three specific concepts/things the designers are trying to teach the player.

1. The effects of disasters
2. How to protect an area against a disaster
3. The cost of disaster protection and aftermath

• What is successful (or not) about the game. What could you do to improve the game?:

     It is successful that there are many available options to protect the island that would be used in real life. I would improve the way a player can move to see all of the island. It would have been easier to have a pan out option. 

Game 3: MedMyst Original: Mission 1 Orientation at O.R.B. 

     MedMyst Original: Mission 1 Orientation at O.R.B. is the first game in a series of games where the player is a NCDC (Neuropolis Center for Disease Control) agent in 2254 after the Great Plague that kills millions. 

• Target age group of this game: Late elementary to high school students 

Adults would find this game childish. High schoolers may also find it childish but would learn from this game.

• List three specific concepts/things the designers are trying to teach the player:

1. Types of infectious agents & how to defeat them
2. How infectious agents are spread & how to prevent getting disease(medicine, vaccine, soap)
3. How to identify a germ 

• What is successful (or not) about the game. What could you do to improve the game?

It is successful this game gives a large amount of information throughout several short games. I would improve the going back option in some games and shorten the number of different games. I feel like younger players would get bored after awhile. 

Game 4: Engineering - Design a Cell Phone

• Target age group of this game: Middle School to High School

This game is too simple for adults. 

• List three specific concepts/things the designers are trying to teach the player.

1. Research is needed to understand product
2. Important to reach out to target market wants
3. Design and testing of a product

• What is successful (or not) about the game. What could you do to improve the game?

It is successful that a player can get feedback and go back to research and/or design to improve the cell phone. I would improve the options for designing a cell phone. The basic options are fine but there is not much room to change the phone after feedback for there are only so many options.