A downloadable online video game that glamourizes the act of saving starving people is turning into a world-wide hit.
An excerpt from the globeandmail.com story:
The free game, Food Force, puts players behind the wheel of a United Nations food truck navigating its way through minefields or at the back of an airplane unloading food sacks in gusty conditions. The stakes are high -- if you make mistakes, starving people will die.
Set to a techno beat that lends a sense of urgency to the logistical quandaries of helping a fictional drought-stricken island, Food Force stands out in the world of video gaming, where players are more usually tutored in such things as exploding their enemies or dominating the world.
Food Force has become something of a public-relations coup for the United Nations. Produced by it's World Food Program, the game is winning praise from all corners of the globe.
Jayantha Jayman, a professor of international relations at the University of Toronto, urges the UN to go even further: "Excellent start. Please do not stop! There is much more to add to make this the means of education," he writes on the site.
Mr. Jayman said in an interview that the game is excellent for children. "Youngsters, it seems, have the human capacity to empathize, which unfortunately is socialized out of us later on," he said, adding he would like to see a more sophisticated version developed for his undergraduate students.