"For example," Gillian explains. "You'd probably want to focus on something that's relevant but not too topical. There's no point in making a game for a story that everyone's going to forget about tomorrow."\n\n"That makes sense," you reply. "So...the weather wouldn't be a good subject, because who cares if it rained yesterday? That's not interesting to people today, when it's sunny."\n\n"Exactly," says Gillian. "But take something like climate change. That's an an ongoing and controversial issue that people discuss and debate endlessly. You could definitely make a game that addressed aspects of global warming. In fact, someone already did."\n\n"Really?"\n\n"Yes, Gonzalo Frasca is a games designer from Uruguay. He made a game called...guess what, Global Warming!"\n\n"Neat."\n\n"Another approach is to take a topic that's really complicated and use a game to explain it to people."\n\n"Like what?" you ask. \n\n"Well, think about the economy. How many people do you know who are convinced that they'd do a better spending taxpayer money than 'those clowns in Washington.' After all, how hard could it be, right?" \n\n"God, that sounds JUST like my uncle."\n\n"Well, maybe he'd enjoy playing Budget Hero, which challenges players to try their hand at balancing the federal budget. Spoiler: it's a lot harder than it sounds!"\n\n[[Check out Global Warming|http://www.powerfulrobot.com/games-repository/globalwarming/]]\n[[Check out Budget Hero|http://www.marketplace.org/topics/economy/budget-hero/]]\n"Didn't you say something about systems? [["What do you mean 'how a system works?'"]]

"If you think about it," says Gillian. "A lot of our news is the direct result of systems or institutions that are already in place in our society. For example, whenever Somali pirates take a ship's crew hostage, it's all over the news. But those stories don't discuss why some people in Somalia turn to piracy in the first place."\n\n"Or why ships sail through places where Somali pirates are known to frequent. You'd think they'd just take a different route."\n\n"Exactly!" says Gillian. "Well, Wired magazine did an entire feature on the economics of Somali piracy and the global shipping industry. In addition to the content in the magazine, there was also a free online game in which you, the player, pretends to be a pirate. You get to capture ships, demand ransom, and see how much money you can get."\n\n"That sounds kind of fun, actually."\n\n"It is fun, but it also gives you a whole new perspective on the issue -- when you play the game, you realize that it makes sense as a pirate to attack as many ships as possible for small amounts of money; it also makes sense for shipping companies to just pay out that small amount of money, instead of spending more to stop the pirates or take a different route."\n\n"Because paying pirates a million dollars is nothing compared to the ten million it might cost to do things differently."\n\n"Right."\n\n"So are there other examples of this kind of game?"\n\n"Well, remember when that factory in Bangladesh collapsed, killing all of those people?"\n\n"You mean Rana Plaza. Yeah, that was tragic."\n\n"Well, it's easy to report on what actually happened. Do you remember the interviews with survivors? Or all the discussion about structural flaws and safety regulations?"\n\n"Of course."\n\n"Many news outlets focused on the people involved, or the investigation into the collapse, or else on legislation or economic sanctions that different nations wanted to impose on Bangladesh's garment industry. However, there's a game called Sweatshop that adds a unique perspective."\n\n"Sweatshop?"\n\n"Yes. It's a game that places the player in the role of a factory supervisor: basically, it's your job to hire workers and make sure that the factory stays profitable. And the way you do that is by hiring children, ignoring safety concerns, and generally just cutting corners wherever you can."\n\n"Whoa. That's kind of grim."\n\n"It is, especially when your child workers lose limbs in the machinery. Which is interesting, because the visuals are incredibly cute and cheerful. It really makes you think."\n\n"Yeah, I think I'd feel bad about wanting to win -- I mean, it sounds like by winning you're kind of losing. Morally, that is."\n\n"What's interesting is that Sweatshop wasn't created specifically in response to this event; in fact, it's a few years old. But it adds a level of abstraction to the issue, examining the structure of the garment industry as a whole -- not just in Bangladesh. That's what I mean when I say that newsgames are good at examining a system, something that's so deeply entrenched or well-established that almost nobody questions it."\n\n"So, if I wanted to, could I find these games online and play them?"\n\n"Absolutely!"\n\n"What else can I do?"\n\n[[Learn about the concept]]\n\n[[Play Sweatshop|http://www.playsweatshop.com/]]\n\n[[Learn more about Cutthroat Capitalism|http://gdcvault.com/play/1016608/Faster-Cheaper-Better-Deeply-Integrated]]

Anonymous

Untitled Story

Gillian says, "If you want to make your own games, you've got plenty of options. Many games, serious or otherwise, are created in Flash. A basic knowledge of HTML and CSS doesn't hurt either."\n\n"Ok, I'm familiar with those. Not an expert, but I might be able to build on my existing skills."\n\nGillian continues, "There are also a number of game development tools out there. [[Pixel Prospector|http://makegames.pixelprospector.com/]] keeps a pretty up-to-date list of game-making tools, including Flashpunk, Unity, UDK (Unreal Development Kit), MMF2 (Multimedia Fusion 2), Torque, and many others."\n\n"Ok, those are good to know about, although I don't think I'm there yet in terms of my skill-level."\n\n"Finally, there's Twine -- it's a program that helps people create interactive fiction and games. Like this one." Gillian smiles. "The one we're in right now."\n\n"Wait, what?!?!"\n\nThe End.

Gillian takes a deep breath and begins:\n\n"Newsgames exist at the intersection of video games and journalism. The term, coined by ludologist and game designer Gonzalo Frasca (September 12, Global Warming), has expanded in scope from Frasca’s original definition of “simulation meets political cartoons” to include a variety of categories or genres that focus on examining complex issues through an interactive framework. \n\nNewsgames are video games with a message that must be played in order to be understood.\n\nAlthough the advent of the Web has opened up a vast new media landscape, journalism as a profession remains entrenched in tradition. \n\nDespite a wealth of accessible tools and technologies that make the creation and dissemination of news easier than ever before, most journalistic practice focus on translating existing modes of communication to an online environment. \n\nNews stories appear on websites and blogs instead of in printed newspapers, viewers stream video clips or download podcasts instead of watching television broadcasts or listening to the radio. Games, however, have no print analog; they are native to the digital world. As such, they offer journalists an exciting opportunity to report the news in a fundamentally different and uniquely effective way."\n\nYou pause, think about what Gillian has just said.\n\n[["Can you give me an example?"]]\n\nOk, [[Screw theory, you just want to know how it's done]]\n

"Well," says Gillian. "Do you mean theoretically or practically? Are you interested in the concept of newsgames, or would you rather learn about the process of making a newsgame?"\n\nYou think for a moment.\n\n[[Learn about the concept]]\n[[Screw theory, you just want to know how it's done]]

"Oh, I can give you tons of examples," Gillian answers. "Almost any story you want to tell can become a video game -- though, in my opinion, the ones that work best as games are the ones that examine a complex, multifaceted issue or explain how a system works."\n\n[["What kinds of issues?"]] you ask. [["What do you mean 'how a system works?'"]]

You're a journalist who has recently started to think about where your profession might be heading -- and what your role will be as it evolves. \n\nYou look around at all the tools and technologies available to you and wonder if it's possible to create engaging, dynamic, and thought-provoking stories that take full advantage of the interactive, participatory nature of the online media environment. \n\nThen your colleague Gillian asks, "Have you ever considered newsgames?" [[Ignore Gillian]] [[Learn more]]

"No," you reply. "What's a newsgame?"\n\n"Basically, newsgames are where journalism meets video games."\n\n"I like video games," you say, thinking of all the mines you've swept, all the candy you've crushed, all those angry birds you've propelled through space. "But the news is serious business. Aren't video games just, you know, a way to waste time?"\n\n"No!" says your colleague. "In fact, the same principles that make video games fun can be used to make the news more engaging."\n\n[["How does that work?"]] [["Can you give me an example?"]]

"I want to know how it's done," you tell Gillian.\n\n"Well, right now, most news organizations don't have a games desk, the way they might have a department to cover current events or sports. Most newsgames are either independently created or else they're the result of partnerships between news outlets and design or media studios."\n\n"You'd think that, I don't know, CNN or whatever would be more likely to produce newsgames. I mean, they've got tons of money and everyone knows about them, right?"\n\n"Yes, but being more visible and having more money means you're accountable to a greater number of stakeholders. Who might be upset to think you're wasting resources on 'something silly like a video game'."\n\n"But you're telling me they're not silly, that they're serious."\n\n"They are, but a lot of people hear 'video game' and think of Pac-Man or Halo..."\n\n"They think of entertainment."\n\n"They do. Not being familiar with what's out there, they can't envision the possibilities."\n\n"So what you're saying is that smaller organizations or independent groups can take more risks, because maybe there's less pressure?"\n\n"So far, that seems to be the case. One fairly successful example of a news organization that creates games is UsVsTh3m, part of the UK-based Trinity Mirror group. They're pretty well known for creating simple but very effective games that reflect current events -- for example, Where's Damascus? (Don't Ask Us)'."\n\n"Is that about the conflict in Syria?"\n\n"Yes. Another example -- Iain Duncan's Realistic Employment Simulator -- is more recognizable to an audience in the UK, because it concerns British politics. But it would probably strike a chord with people who have dealt with unemployment."\n\n"Right, and all the people who are like "just get a job already," or "you should have studied something useful, like programming. Speaking of which, SHOULD I have studied programming? Making games seems like it would be a high-tech endeavor. I mean, I've got a blog, I use Facebook and Twitter and all that, but I'm not some Silicon Valley superstar."\n\n"You don't have to be. The staff of UsVsTh3m is comprised of programmers, graphic designers, and journalists -- they work together in a small team of about 6 or 7 people. And the roles within the organization are pretty flexible; everyone gets together and bounces ideas off each other before pitching in to get the project done."\n\n"Well, that's good. But are you sure that's not just that organization specifically."\n\n"As a rule, small teams seem to predominate the world of newsgames. Many of the earliest examples were created by one or two people: Gonzalo Frasca's September 12, or Ian Bogost's Airport Security or Disaffected!"\n\n"Bogost. I know that name. Why?"\n\n"Well, in addition to creating games (like Cow Clicker), he also researches and writes about them. He's a theorist as well as a game designer -- in fact, he's written entire books on newsgames and the uses of video games in general."\n\n"So you're telling me that while it helps to have a tech background, it's not absolutely necessary?"\n\n"Definitely not. For example, take Spent, which is a game produced by the advertising agency McKinney for a charitable organization called Urban Ministries of Durham. Its creator, Jenny Nicholson, calls it 'the Oregon Trail of poverty,' because you and your family have to survive for a month on what you earn at your low-wage job, while making really tough choices whenever bills come due or someone gets sick or your car breaks down."\n\n"Normal life stuff, basically -- except if you're broke, it's a huge deal."\n\n"Precisely. Anyway, Nicholson calls herself as an "idea haver" -- when she decided to make Spent, she teamed up with an art director and a couple of tech people to get it done. She describes the experience as positive and very collaborative -- she was able to give notes to the developers and receive feedback from people testing the game, like when it turned out there weren't enough 'challenges' in the game and she wrote more."\n\n"Well that makes me feel better. Still, what if I want to do it all? I'm kind of curious about the technical side of making newsgames. Are there any cool tools that would make that part of the job easier?"\n\n[[Find out more about cool tools]]\n\n[[Play Spent|http://playspent.org/]]\n\n[[Check out UsVsTh3m|http://usvsth3m.com/post/57145265331/do-you-need-entertainment-then-heres-all-the-usvsth3m]]\n\n[[Read Ian Bogost's Stuff|http://www.bogost.com/]]

"No," you respond. "I don't even know what that means."\n\n"Really? You'd love them -- they combine journalism AND video games."\n\n"Yeah, great. That sounds really interesting," you reply, stifling a yawn.\n \nUndeterred by your lack of enthusiasm, Gillian starts gushing about how newsgames are the future, how they represent an entirely new and totally unprecedented approach to journalistic practice, blah blah blah...As your eyes glaze over, you glance at the watch you don't wear and make an excuse to leave the room.