Microsoft Wants To Build Games For Change

June 11, 2007 By Nick Mokey

The company's new contest will encourage college students to develop video games based on global warming.

Games aren’t just being used to teach kids about Internet predators, they’re also being eyed as a medium for raising awareness of global warming. Microsoft announced a contest on Monday that will challenge college students to build a socially conscious game about global warming through a partnership with the Games for Change Festival at Parsons The New School for Design.

The Xbox 360 Games for Change Challenge will launch in the coming months, offering students in over 100 countries the opportunity to create games with Microsoft’s XNA Game Studio Express, a development tool. The winner will receive cash prizes, as well as an invitation from Microsoft to present their game to a management team for possible inclusion on Xbox Live Arcade, and an internship with Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business.

The Games for Change Festival assesses the impact of games on culture and encourages their use for good. “The current generation of gamers is among the most socially conscious in history,” said Suzanne Seggerman, co-founder and president of Games for Change, in a statement. “We know from experience that young people are looking for ways to help make the world a better place, and who better to support this effort than an industry leader like Microsoft?”

No details have yet been announced regarding the official start of the contest of rules for entry.

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MS at 12:24pm 11th June 2007 I think that this is a positive move on the part of Microsoft. I think what people really need to consider is say a realistic game where a person is in charge of a city say and they have the ability to tour the city like in Grand Theft Auto and implement a design to reduce the city pollution, while at the same time implementing a health reform plan to care for the citizens of the city. They should be able to meet with people to lay down their plans and then see that they are carried out. They can also do other crazy things in their free time to affect both of the above in themselves and their citizens. Oh, and if they get shot or mugged or do so to someone else they should be made aware of the fact that people do actually die without having to take 100 or so bullets. So many life lessons could be factored into such a game that's it's ridiculous. Perhaps you could also have a scenario where they go to public places and can sit down and challenge people to games of chess and GO. Discouraging smoking would be a big thing that one could do as well since the tobacco companies seem to be aiming lower than ever. Show them that if their character in the game chooses to smoke they increase certain risks and their health deteriorates. They need to care for their character otherwise he/she dies and they cannot complete their tasks.