Free Rice game

For each answer you get right, they donate 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program: http://www.freerice.com/

Ayiti: The Cost of Life

Another interesting game: http://www.unicef.org/voy/explore/rights/explore_3142.html

The McDonald's Game

Another game I recently heard about. This aims to teach the player about the negative ways corporations like McDonalds affect society and the environment. Check it out here: http://www.mcvideogame.com/

G!RLPower Retouch

I heard about this site recently. It steps visitors through photo touch up process used by many photographers/magazines. Visit it here:
http://demo.fb.se/e/girlpower/section0/index.html

Moral Development through Social Narratives and Game Design

It's been a while but I'm finally getting my life back. Although I haven't posted for almost half a year it's a positive thing because I've been really busy getting a lot of stuff done. I'll post all the work I've been involved in over the next several weeks. Today's post is about a chapter I co-authored with my classmate Lance Vikaros in a textbook about Gaming and Ethics. You can read the abstract below:

Morality originates in dispositions and attitudes formed in childhood and early adolescence. Fantasy play and both the perspective taking, and interpersonal negotiation of conflicts that it affords, have been causally linked to the development of moral reasoning and a theory of mind. A closer examination of the self-regulated processes involved implicates a number of contributing factors that video games and virtual worlds are well suited to encourage. The chapter presents recommendations suggesting the ways in which such technology can facilitate moral development by supporting and simulating diverse social interaction in ways leading to the promotion of self-efficacy, critical thinking, and consequential decision making.

The book is available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Ethics-Game-Design-Teaching-Through/dp/1615208453/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274303885&sr=8-10

Popular Facebook game FarmVille raises $487,500 for charity

Popular Facebook game, Farmville, successfully raises almost half a million dollars for a Haitian charity. You can read more about it here:
http://www.gamezebo.com/features/news/popular-facebook-game-farmville-raises-487500-charity

Warner Brother's Kenyan Pamoja Mtanni game

Warner Brothers is developing a game that will be used to help teach Kenyan citizens about HIV prevention. It's not out yet but you can learn more about it here:

http://hivfreegeneration.warnerbros.com/