World Bank-funded Cross-Cultural Collaborative Online Game for Africa

EVOKE trailer (a new online game) from Alchemy on Vimeo.

We are following with interest this new game announcement by Jane McGonigal (via the omnipresent Alice Taylor) about a World Bank Institute-funded game she is releasing in March called "EVOKE."

EVOKE is an online game designed to teach collaboration, creativity, knowledge networking, entrepreneurship, courage, resourcefulness, sustainability, and vision.

Our goal: to empower young people all over the world, and especially in Africa, to start tackling the world’s toughest problems: poverty, hunger, sustainable energy, water security, conflict, disaster relief, health care, education, human rights.
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The game runs for 10 weeks, with a new mission and a new quest each week.

Players who successfully complete all 10 missions and all 10 quests will be able to claim their honors: World Bank Institute Certified Social Innovator – Class of 2010.

Sounds like a great idea. Collaborative. Web-based (thus more accessible to African audiences) who have Internet access and, possibly, those who access the web via mobile phones, though it's not clear from the announcement whether it will be mobile-friendly. Most importantly, it's cross-cultural.


The graphic novel look and feel seems like a good idea as well.

[Urgent Evoke]