Dove Lane

Sometimes I think I live under a rock. I had no idea that there were so many games on so many specialized topics out there! I’m not talking about games that you can buy in Best Buy or Wal*Mart. I’m talking about specialized games that I would call “playing with a purpose” — whether that purpose be education, propaganda or self-help — as opposed to popular commercial games people play in their spare time, like Grand Theft Auto, Chess, Civilization or World of Warcraft. They are created by associations, psychologists, financial institutions, educators, consultants, and graphic designers learning their craft, and they represent a fascinating hodgepodge of ideas.

Look what I’ve found (and these only scratch the surface!). Makes me wonder what else I’ve been missing!

Health/Psychology
(See also these related articles: Game for a Little Therapy and Video Games Boost Brain Power)

The Anger Control Game

http://www.therapeuticresources.com/product_detail.asp?id=101

The Anti-Bullying Game

http://www.therapeuticresources.com/product_detail.asp?id=248

The Assertiveness Game

http://www.therapeuticresources.com/product_detail.asp?id=96

The Problem Solver Game

http://www.therapeuticresources.com/product_detail.asp?id=259

Talking, Feeling and Doing Game

http://www.therapeuticresources.com/product_detail.asp?id=262

Chatter Matters Game for family communication

http://www.therapeuticresources.com/product_detail.asp?id=345

Ben’s Game for children fighting cancer

http://www.makewish.org/site/pp.asp?c=cvLRKaO4E&b=64401

The Tranquility Game Aaaaaahh

http://www.tqworld.com/

Self-Esteem Games

http://www.selfesteemgames.mcgill.ca/

Others

City Planning: Plan Your Future Park
href=”http://www.gothamgazette.com/parksgame/

City Services Breakdown

http://www.gothamgazette.com/breakdown/

Objection! Trial law game series

http://www.objection.com/

JOSHU learn Japanese

http://www.laits.utexas.edu/japanese/joshu/verbsGames.htm

Labyrinthus Latinus a MUD entirely in Latin

http://labyrinthus.latinus.imp.ch/

Peter Packet Game for fighting global poverty

http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/779/edu/peterpacket/

Queer Power Transgender Game

http://www.molleindustria.it/home-eng.php#

September 12 Game for solving terrorism

http://www.newsgaming.com/games/index12.htm

Virtual U Game for university management practices

http://www.virtual-u.org/

Don’t Gross Out the World for international etiquette

http://www.fekids.com/img/kln/flash/DontGrossOutTheWorld.swf

Freudian Slip a word game

http://mud.co.uk/richard/fs.htm

Business Related:

Leadership Training Simulation

http://www.simulearn.net/SimuLearn/simulearn_home_page.htm

The Knowledge Game

http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/2003/06/10.html#a267

The Business Strategy Game

http://www.mhhe.com/business/management/thompson/11e/bsg/

Oil Producers’ Microworld Game

http://www.strategydynamics.com/products/oilprod.asp

Professional Services Microworld Game

http://www.strategydynamics.com/products/Profserv.asp

nVestor

http://investorsleague.com/index.html

Wall Street Challenge

http://wtc.wallstreet-challenge.com/

The International Logistics Management Game

http://www.ilmg.com/

Lemonade Stand the classic business school game

http://www.4webgames.com/lemonade/

Gazillionaire, an intergalactic business strategy game

http://www.gazillionaire.com/gaz.html

The Sales Activator Training Game, including the Trinamic Sales Game

http://www.businessballs.com/salesactivatorsellinggames.htm

I’ve left the URLs visible in case you want to print this out and take it home to try some out. Enjoy!

This entry was posted on Friday, January 20th, 2006 at 1:25 am, and is filed under Virtual Worlds. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.