Serious Games: Improving Public Policy through Game-Based

This paper examines the promise of game-based simulation as applied to public policy:

Foresight and Governance Project
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
Publication 2002-1

Serious Games: Improving Public Policy through Game-Based
Learning and Simulation

The United Nations’ first computer game

The United Nations’ first computer game – Food Force – was conceived and developed by the World Food Programme – a frontline agency for fighting world hunger:

http://www.food-force.com/

The idea for this game was originally proposed by an Italian field worker named Paola Biocca, who died in the line of duty in Kosovo in 1999. The game is dedicated to her. It came from a belief that young people could learn from games… that “young people were left out of the discussion of world hunger.” Roche added that every five seconds a child dies from hunger, and since Live Aid 20 years ago, the situation has gotten worse. “We will lose this fight if we don’t do something about it. We decided that we needed to target future decisions makers.”