U.S. State Department announces new video game diplomacy program
U.S. State Department announces new video game diplomacy program
U.S. State Department announces new video game diplomacy program
By Noah Smith
April 21, 2021
Summary
Now, in a program announced Wednesday by the U.S. Department of State, this pantheon will include video games.
In the latest round of Stevens Initiative grants, the U.S. Department of State and the nonprofit Games for Change announced a new project that seeks to engage 2,700 students in the U.S., Israel, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in a virtual student exchange program centered on the development and creation of social impact video games.
"Games have a power beyond entertainment, they can be significant drivers of social impact," said Susanna Pollack, president of Games for Change, which has been focused on supporting the creation of video games with a social message.
"Young people have something in common and it's that they play video games. I think it's important to have initiatives around gaming. It's an opportunity to give everybody a chance to have an exchange."In creating video games, people develop tremendous skills that are involved in that industry.
A State Department official, who was not authorized to speak on the record, said the department sees similarities between the growth of social media in the past and gaming now.
Students in the program will select a topic for their game based on a social issue and then work synchronously with their international counterparts online, as well as by themselves offline, to develop and create a game, all within 10 weeks.
Pollack said Games for Change is planning to use a template they have been refining for the past several years in their game development programs based in the U.S. Those programs have led to students receiving full university scholarships in video game-related majors and starting their own video game studios.
Though the Game Exchange program will be run by Games for Change, it is a program funded by the U.S. government.
Pollack said she hopes the program will help empower kids - "so that they have that lightbulb go off" - in both making video games and civic engagement, while also bridging cultural gaps and sharing American expertise.
As for how the U.S. government regards video games compared to other aspects of U.S. culture that formerly served as the vehicle for diplomatic initiatives, Royce sees the program as firmly in line.
Reference
Smith, N. (2021, April 07). U.S. state Department announces new video game DIPLOMACY program. Retrieved July 26, 2021, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2021/04/07/video-game-diplomacy/