Digital Narrative Games

Spent:

I really enjoyed playing spent, even though it’s a stressful game, but I liked the different decisions that I had to take also by the end of the month I had some money, others were bankrupt so I would take that as an achievement. This game shows how tough life could be and how you have take a lot of harsh decisions for a better future. I learned from spent that a person has to think very well before taking decisions as bad decisions could lead to bad consequences. One way in which this game would have improved is by being a little bit more positive, as every choice I made ended up in leaded into something horrible and losing money.

BBC Syrian Refugees:

I didn’t really like this game as I don’t like the fact I am simulating someone’s life or the distress of a family. A lot of Syrian’s have suffered over the last couple of years, however BBC decide to make the simulation seem as real as possible, we will never feel their suffer. I understand that the game is made to inform people of the different routes and very tough decisions and consequences refugees have been through, but I think that it should not be incorporated as a game. I learned from this game the different routes that syrians have to take to flee their country, for example going through turkey. I also learned that the refugees don’t want to be put in a camp as they would feel like prisoners, they want to live a free and happy life without an violence to keep their families safe. I honestly believe that this game doesn’t need any improvements as I think it shouldn’t be there from the beginning as some people might take this as joke, when it isn’t.

Sleep-Deprived Mom:

I chose this game so I could test myself, and compare my decisions to a mom’s decision as I was curious to see what the questions would be like. I really put myself in a single mom’s position, and I took decisions that would really comfort my child. I didn’t really know how little things would affect the amount of hours I slept as a mom. Before taking any decisions I put in considerations what my mom would have done with me, so this really influenced what I chose. This game showed me how moms work really hard just to for their child to be comfortable and have a simple life and grow to be good people. This game would have improved if there were images to illustrate the different contexts so that it would be a little bit more fun.

Responsible Partying:

I really enjoyed this game, as it shows how peer pressure has a huge effect on a person, also this game kind of separates the people who have a strong personality and morals from people who would just do anything to enjoy themselves. I like how the game had videos which informed people the dangers and drawback of drinking in parties, and that you don’t have to drink to be cool, or if a friend offers you a drink when you don’t drink. As people who just drink when they don’t or never had alcohol before are just followers, they don’t have a strong personality. This game really focuses on a huge subject in our current society, which I think is a good way to inform people especially younger people.

Activate:

I found activate really fun, as it talks mainly about raising awareness about certain topics. I chose to play a person who volunteers to make a campaign to stop littering parks, as they should be a clean and beautiful place where people enjoy themselves. I chose this as personally I hate littering and I always argue with my friends when they just throw something on the ground and I force them to pick it up. This game shows the amount of work needed to make a topic popular, and there are many different ways to raise awareness, and that you have start by yourself for the sake of a certain topic, and that you could motivate more people to join you.  

Reflection:

Overall, I can say that the digital world has offered a lot of things like the different ways in which we could convey our ideas. The five games that I played portray an image of our society and the different problems that we could face. I like how informing people can be fun, it doesn’t have to be either very boring, dramatic or serious like in the news. So I believe that games are great way in informing people in a new and enjoyable way.