Online games with social messages
Several gaming companies and NGOs are working together to make the youth responsible in a non-preachy way. They have devised online games that educate people on issues such as female foeticide, AIDS and climate change in an entertaining way.
Ready to game and have fun. Well, gaming companies want to do more than just entertain gamers. Soon, you can play games with social messages. For instance, Zapak has games on female foeticide and AIDS awareness.
Gaming companies are trying to make the youth responsible in a non-preachy way. What’s more, they are tying up with NGOs and non-profit organisations to reach out to the masses.
Targeting the young crowd, NGOs are taking gaming route to spread socially-relevant messages. Take for instance Zapak.com, a gaming site owned by Reliance Entertainment, which recently tied up with an NGO, Population First, to develop a game to create awareness about female foeticide.
Laadli was the name of the communication campaign launched by the NGO aiming to change people’s mindset towards the girl child and create awareness about the falling sex ratio. Gaming, the organisation thought, was an innovative option to spread the message in an entertaining way.
Zapak.com chief operating officer Rohit Sharma says: “Since youth is the major target group of online games, we believe the platform can be used to educate them about important issues affecting the society. Through Laadli, we use a question-answer game to check the level of awareness among the youth about issues related to a girl child.”
Zapak’s Play Safe is another game that gives out the message of safe sex. The company promises to add more such games to its portfolio. “Zapak will continue to create more games to address social issues that are relevant to society,” adds Sharma.
As games cut the language barrier, they provide an effective way of reaching out to the rural crowd as well.
While Internet penetration may still be low, mobile content developers are making sure they reach that populace through mobile games. The Energy and Research Institute (TERI) has tied up with ZMQ Software Systems to launch mobile phone games to create public awareness on climate change under the initiative ‘Connect-2-Climate’.
Three games will be made available exclusively on Reliance Mobile World and will be free for users to download. The games encourage people to use eco-friendly methods in life and develop sustainable habits like using cloth/jute bags, avoiding disposable items, consuming fewer tetra pack, planting more trees to preserve nature, opting for renewable energy resources and so on.
On the similar lines are games developed by Games2win.com. The portal will soon have games spreading awareness about global warming, endangered polar bears.
Games2win.com CEO Alok Kejriwal says: “Games are an exceptional way to reach young audience and send across a social message. While they are a popular source of entertainment, they can be a fun way of learning as well.”
