The U.N.'s Hot Video Game

The U.N. takes humanitarian appeals to new audiences

What's the most effective way to get First World kids to start caring about Third World problems? The answer, according to the United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP), is an action-packed humanitarian video game that lets players rack up points for air dropping food rations and surveying war-torn populations on the fictitious island of Sheylan. "The gaming market is saturated with blood and guts and gore," says Justin Roche, the game's project manager at WFP headquarters in Rome. "We've turned the concept on its head by addressing the urgency and immediacy of a real crisis situation." In its first six weeks,...

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