[blog, blog, blog] The Blogosphere is Abuzz with Ayiti: The Cost of Life
- From Highly Recommended Thing Of The Moment:
That was disturbingly addictive... This just reinforces the fury I feel at funneling billions of dollars into bull**** earmarks and the war in Iraq when we could be educating the world. Why doesn't our government see that if we educated most of the third world that we'd not only create good will for the US in spades for years to come, but that we'd increase EVERYBODY'S productivity and the economy of the entire world would rise?
I'm going to go look for a drink now. Just definitely not rum...
- From Stillhaventfound.org
- Another flattering post from Eliane Alhadeff:
Global Kids achieves another breakthrough with this brand new social advocacy game.
- Game reviewer Patrick Dugan writes:
I'm not sure which was more compelling, the later feelings of success as I worked that dominant strategy, or the early feelings of anguished sympathy as these people helplessly struggled with no way out.
- Another game reviewer, Click Nothing, admired not only the game but the context in which it was created:
Also of note is the degree of collaboration that seems to have gone on to bring us this game. Gamelab, UNICEF, Global Kids and Microsoft all had a hand in making this game possible. It amazes me how many column inches in both the specialty gaming press and the mainstream press are devoted to covering how evil the game industry is, and how there is little to no coverage of a game like this...
- The Private Sector Development Blog sends people our way.
- Smarter T.M. who seemded to know a lot about Haiti, and was surprised to finda game about it, wrote:
"It was fun to see the Creole words they work in here and there. This is obviously a simplified version of the ongoing dilemma, especially as having books at home isn't all that useful when no one in your family knows how to read anyway, but it does illustrate the problems in balancing health, money, and education to try to get ahead when you are starting with basically nothing. To be more realistic, probably all the family would start out with a health issue of some kind, and no starting cash at all, and the family farm would disappear if you didn't have someone tend to it.... but I guess that would make for a really depressing game."
- The folks at Little Black Book wrote an excellent description of the game, one of the best yet, and reflects that:
"I know it's weird to self-reflect and think too deep into games, but whenever a family member in the game gets sick or depressed (depicted by crying), it certainly tugs the heart strings, especially when I am reminded of how these little cartoons represent real families in Haiti. I guess it's a powerful message there. Although we may bitch about our own lives, we should be aware of how fortunate we are and how others around the world are worse off and suffering, and go help them."
- Think Mojo, reflecting on the relationship between the poverty around him/her in England and the poverty encountered in Ayiti: The Cost of Life, says:
"Sadly we are approaching a period where this kind of thing is no longer confined solely to developing countries."
- The Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group writes:
"agencies are catching on to the usefullness of Flash animation and games for getting folks to spend time learning about issues such as poverty and development. Check out this new game brought to you by Global Kids/UNICEF: Ayiti - Cost of life. The game starts with a bit more blah blah blah then necessary, but is still pretty good.
Reviewing these ten blogs, it's great to notice who is taking notice, mostly gaming sites and international development folks. These are certainly two adult audiences we have in mind. We'd love to see more, however, from the educational fields, as well as from youth bloggers as well.
