Real diplomacy from the virtual world

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Miller said the contest is about helping those trying to solve problems that have historically been hard to solve. "Looking at our finalists," she said, "they came up with different ways to basically help the world."

John Seely Brown, one of the competition's judges, said he sees the project as a way to bridge gaps.

"This is not a chat room. This is actually coming together, really understanding what each of you can do..."

--John Seely Brown, contest judge

"Public diplomacy depends on building real understanding between people on the ground here (in the United States) with real foreigners, real people in other countries," said Seely Brown, formerly the chief scientist at Xerox PARC and currently a visiting scholar at USC's Annenberg Center. "That's what cultural exchange has always been about."

And Seely Brown said that virtual worlds--in which players often have to work together to solve complicated tasks--and game spaces offer the field of public diplomacy a valuable new environment.

"They're not only social (spaces) but also (for) engaging in joint, coordinated, collaborative work," he said. "So this is not a chat room. This is actually coming together, really understanding what each of you can do, working together to achieve really difficult goals."

Miller agrees.

In the book "Playing Video Games," writer Elaine Chan "said that (virtual worlds) are basically a giant forum for communication," said Miller. "Virtual worlds are not just a good environment for public diplomacy, it's a great environment for it. It can facilitate communication across borders and cultures that has never been done to that scale before--people getting the chance to chat/talk/meet/play with hundreds of people that they have never met before."

Meanwhile, two of the contest finalists are using the open-ended virtual world "Second Life" to build their projects. In fact, the contest itself is using "Second Life" as a staging ground; it will simulcast the awards ceremony into a screen in an amphitheater on a private island in that virtual world.

But "Peacemaker" is a free-standing game that doesn't springboard off any other virtual world. And creator Eric Brown doesn't see that as contradicting the spirit of the contest.

"The competition was just (about) reinventing public diplomacy through game studies," he said. "A game world is a virtual world."

Miller, too, said the contest's definition of "virtual world" left room for projects like "Peacemaker."

Entrants are mainly constructed in "pre-existing virtual worlds," Miller said. "But I think video games provide a virtual world within themselves."

And when she thinks about it, Miller said she knows the message that she'd like the contest to spread.

"Video games--virtual worlds and all (their) renditions--can change the world," Miller said.

[kaufmanmoore]

Are they "serious"?

Its a hell of alot more fun to frag the enemy than to make peace with them.

[Tomcat Adam]

KOTOR

In Knights of The Old Republic, you are given a large amount of choices to make, which usually result in you having to kill the enemy or make peace. When you're an overpowering party that can't be stopped, the fun is found when you try and move away from battles and win with the right choices.

I'd say this game has a chance, albiet very small, but still a chance of working.

[Andrew J Glina]

Surprise Surprise

Another story mentioning Second Life.