Via: PEACEapp
– United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC)
Game developers, technologists and peace builders
around the world are invited to submit Serious Games that facilitate dialogue
and prevent violence.
The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations
(UNAOC), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and Build Up have
launched PEACEapp, a global competition to promote digital games and
gamified apps as venues for cultural dialogue and conflict management.
PEACEapp builds on
the success of Create UNAOC – a competition for apps and games that promoted
intercultural dialogue run by UNAOC and its partners in 2012.
The competition asks entrants to engage with
questions that are central to building peace. How can we create new spaces for
dialogue and shared action aimed at preventing violence? Is the key to provide
opportunities for contact among individuals of different cultural or religious
backgrounds? Can sharing stories also encourage mutual respect for cultural and
religious values? Or is it about offering people tools to question and reframe
their identity?
These questions are essential to the work of UNAOC, given its mandate to promote intercultural awareness. These questions
are also closely linked to UNDP’s work on conflict prevention and peace building.
Supported by a range of partners including
Games for Change, the Institute for Economics and Peace, the MIT Center for
Civic Media and the ICT for Peace Foundation, PEACEapp is intended to
give developers the chance to showcase their work – new, existing or in
progress – and engage with questions that are central to building peace.
Of all the technological tools increasingly
available to peace builders, Serious Games present opportunities that are
particularly relevant to fostering dialogue that prevents violence.
PEACEapp Competition Rules
The competition is open to three kinds of
entries at all stages of development – from prototypes to fully developed apps:
(i) Digital games & gamified apps
developed purposefully for this competition
(ii) Already existing digital games
(iii) Creative re-purposing of existing
digital games to meet the aim of PEACEapp
PEACEapp’s
international jury will select five winning entries: three that are fully
functioning and two that are under development. The three fully functioning
games or apps will receive an award of USD$5,000 each. The two under
development will receive mentorship from expert partners. In addition, one
member of each award-winning team (completed or under development) will be invited
to the Build Peace conference in April 2015 in Cyprus to share their product
with conference participants.
The deadline for applications is October 15,
2014. Winners will be announced by November 30, 2014.
Digital games and gamified apps submitted to PEACEapp
will be reviewed by an international jury according to the criteria described
at http://www.unaoc.org/peaceapp/judges
To submit a digital game or gamified app,
entrants must complete the entry form on PEACEapp website in English and submit a
video walkthrough or presentation of a working game / app, game / app alpha,
beta prototype or implementation plan for using an existing game / app by
October 15, 2014. Participants must be 13 years or older.
Make sure to check the eligibility criteria,
rules and regulations at http://www.unaoc.org/peaceapp/rules/