作者：Joost Schuur

随着过去几年电子游戏不断成熟，它的覆盖面也不断扩大，甚至提供了一些前所未有的机遇去影响世界各地的用户。

而今天的游戏到底有怎样的表现以及它们是如何传递持久的影响呢？

游戏内部集资提供给那些并未考虑捐钱给慈善机构的目标玩家最显著的短期机遇。这能够帮助一个稳定的即时项目筹集到资金，特别在与用户已经很熟悉的免费道具购买相关联时会更有效。尽管在过去几年里不断扩展，但是这种赞助模式仍然很少见，并且因为应用商店或发行商的限制，“慈善机构”也很难与“捐赠者”建立起持久稳定的关系。

games and kids(from develop-online)

长期视角

比起与事先购买道具相关联的直接“捐赠”，其它“慈善机构”会选择提高一个问题的知名度并未更长期的关系建立基础。如果发行商希望玩家离开他们的游戏，那么“慈善机构”便能够获得更多玩家的注意并拥有足够的空间在他们能够控制且更新的网页上突出自己的目标。

即使发行商不能强迫玩家在社交媒体上关注自己或将他们归入邮件列表中，但如果能让玩家在自己的社交圈子传播信息便能够比IAP更有效地延伸触及范围。

这种潜意识开发可能会以具有选择性的游戏形式呈现出来，并且不会与“慈善机构”具有直接联系，就好像BBC关于移民困境的“叙利亚之旅”的互动故事。

然而所有的这些例子都是带有许多需要花时间去计划的相关性的项目。像这样的活动只是2014年慈善机构募集到3500亿美元中的一小部分。而捐赠者也不是游戏影响改变的唯一方式。

我敢保证游戏改变世界的最具影响力的方法是通过改变玩家的长期行为与心态。就像有一代人是伴随着《我的世界》长大的，他们非常熟悉在一个共享世界中使用有限资源并与其他玩家进行合作。这些价值将塑造能够超越游戏的角色特征并为玩家周围的世界创造出更具兼容性的方法。

《Journal of Adolescent》中的一项研究发现，那些玩游戏的孩子们“拥有更高的家庭亲密度，活动参与性，学校依附性以及健康的心理状态。”游戏设计师Jane McGonigal相信，一周利用约210亿小时的游戏玩法将能够更好地改善我们的世界。

游戏还能强化玩家的问题解决技能并给予创造出全新解决方法的玩家奖励。当玩家掌握到获取新信息的技能时，他们便可以将它应用于非游戏问题的解决上，从而进一步去了解这个世界。

当然了，这里也需要短期帮助以及传统的集资方法去缓解当前的危机，但是我相信真正的改变是来自能够带给整个世界好处的行为塑造，而游戏也能作为这种改变的一份子。改变世界与成为一名玩家是同时发生的。

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转发，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Can games really change the world?

By Joost Schuur, Playmob

As video games have matured over the years, its reach has increased significantly, offering unprecedented opportunities to affect a diverse and global audience.

At the same time, the pace at which the internet can highlight tragedies and injustice in the world has set the stage to use that audience to enact a positive impact on the state of the world. How are games doing this today, and how could they deliver a lasting impact?

In-game fundraising provides the most obvious, short-term opportunity to target gamers who might not otherwise consider donating to a charity. It can help raise funds for a concrete, immediate project and works particularly well when tied to the purchase of a free-to-play item type that the user is already familiar with. While expanding over the last few years, this type of sponsored model is still infrequently used and doesn’t allow a charity to establish a lasting relationship with the donor, due to app store or publisher restrictions.

Long-term view

Rather than immediate donations tied to an item purchase upfront, other charities choose to raise awareness of an issue and set the foundation for a longer-term relationship. Provided the publisher is keen on them leaving their game, a charity will have more of a player’s attention and space available to highlight their cause on a web page they can control and update.

Even if they can’t get them to follow them on social media or get them to subscribe to a mailing list, allowing them to spread their message to people’s social circle will further their reach better than individual IAPs.

Such awareness-building may even take alternative game-like forms and not be directly tied to a charity, like the BBC’s Syrian Journey interactive story about the plight of migrants from a war-torn country.

And yet all of these cases are carefully planned projects with a number of dependencies that took time to plan out. Campaigns like this represent a fraction of the $350bn raised for charity in 2014 alone. Donations alone may also not be the only way games can affect change.

I would argue that the most impactful way games can improve the world is by changing longer-term behaviour and mindset. Consider a generation of kids growing up and playing Minecraft, collaborating together in a shared world with other players and finite resources. These values will shape character traits that can transcend gaming and lead to a more inclusive approach to the world around them.

A study in the Journal of Adolescent found that kids who play games ‘reported higher levels of family closeness, activity involvement, attachment to school and positive mental health’. Game designer Jane McGonigal believes harnessing some 21bn hours of gameplay a week can lead to real world improvements.

Games also strengthen problem-solving skills and reward players for researching new solutions when you’re stuck playing them. As players learn the value of seeking out new info, they’ll apply it to non gaming issues too, and increase their understanding of the world.

There will always be the need for short term aid and traditional fundraising to alleviate a current crisis, but I believe true change will come from shaping habits that ultimately benefit the world, and gaming can be a part of that. Changing the world starts one gamer at a time.（source：develop-online)