Darfur+is+Dying

I chose the game “Darfur is Dying” – a game that could be used in a Social Studies class effectively. At the start of the game, the player is able to choose a character to represent them; I saw about six different choices with kids/young adults ranging in age from a little child to a young adult. I chose Elham, a 14-year-old girl. After that, the player was told to forage for water –that the community was relying on her and she must run to the well, although there was an imminent attach threat from Janjaweed militia. The player must then use the arrows and space bar to run to the water source and try to hide from the militia. Jeeps and other vehicles would be driving through the desert – the militia. If captured, the screen would pop-up with text saying that Elham had become one of the hundreds and hundreds lost in Sudan. The player also has the option to stay at the refugee camp and try to stay alive and healthy. This could be done through building shelter and foraging for water.

This game seemed to teach through text and motivation through fear. The goal wasn’t to become rich or prosperous but to stay alive; the player was motivated to find the water source and move quickly because they saw imminent threat approaching. There was quite a lot of teaching through text as well. Whenever Elham, my character, was captured or had to perform a task, the screen would give information on the actual residents of Darfur, making the player see how real the situation is for people across the globe. As mentioned, the teaching was primarily accomplished through written text. I did not feel that I learned from the actual movements I made in the game as much as I did from the text. It was an emotional sort of teaching, though. The events in the game definitely caused emotions such as stress and fear (at least for me!). I could see the following learning principle: Meta-level thinking about Semiotic Domain Principle

(Learning involves active and critical thinking about the relationships of the semiotic domain being learned to other semiotic domains). The whole point of the game seemed to be a type of simulation, getting the player to connect with the domain in Darfur. My overall reflection on the game is a mixed one. I think it was effective to have the player exposed to the realities of Darfur. It was strange, though, to be playing a “game,” when it is reality for others – and a grim reality at that. After my character was captured, the screen gave me the option of trying again in this manner: “As someone at a far off computer, and not a child or adult in Sudan, would you like to try again?” It was a bit jolting, even though the animation was like a cartoon and the game was not advanced, I felt connected to the message. So, it was an interesting experience. I did really like that they had a button you could press to actually aid Darfur. I think this game could be used in the classroom but maybe students shouldn’t be given a lot of time to play it because I think the game is not meant to help you master skills of survival as much as for you to see the devastation in Darfur. Thus, if a student played it for extended periods of time, I feel they would be desensitized from the message.