SGS Feature: 'Interview: ImpactGames On PeaceMaker'

Today's main feature written for Gamasutra sister site Serious Games Source, which deals with games created for training, health, government, military, educational and other uses, concerns ImpactGames' serious game, PeaceMaker, which deals with the conflict between Israel and Palestine from a 'social gaming' perspective. Specifically, the site sat spoke with Eric Brown, CEO of ImpactGames, and Asi Burak, the company's CCO, regarding their company, as well as PeaceMaker itself, which which was recently announced as the winner of the Reinventing Public Diplomacy through Games Contest in May. In this excerpt, Brown discusses the development of PeaceMaker, talking about how the game was created to remain sensitive to those individuals directly impacted by the real-world events depicted in the game: “We have read a lot of the criticism people have put forth about a games trivializing content. Obviously this was a major concern to us. One of the goals of attempting this project was to see if it was possible to create a game that addressed serious issues without falling into this pitfall. In the process of creating PeaceMaker we presented the game to many different groups including government officials of both sides of the conflict, groups whose sole mission is dealing with issues around the conflict, and individuals from both sides of the conflict. In all of these presentations the fear was always how they would react to the idea of what we are doing. In many cases the gut reaction to the idea was very much the affront of a “how could you make a game about this subject”, however once they see the game and understand what we are trying to do the response has been overwhelmingly positive. When they realize we aren’t making a first-person shooter and that we are doing our best to give multiple perspectives through the experience they have responded in many cases by offering to help in the content and construction of our game.” You can now read the full Serious Games Source feature on the subject, including more of both Brown and Burak's comments regarding PeaceMaker (no registration required, please feel free to link to this feature from external websites).