ABSTRACT
In the increased global interest of developing online materials, engaging with videogames and interactive online tools that do not use the topic of violence for entertainment but rather as a teaching tool, opens new possibilities in making important knowledge about the dynamics of structural violence and its connection to historical traumas, globally more accessible. More and more evidence shows that dynamic interplay between designers (teachers) and players (learners) might lead to the development of empathy, understanding, and even moral behavior. However, experiential learning materials, including videogames and online teaching tools, are always cultural artefacts that not only reflect the values of creators and/or teachers but also force the learners to reconsider their own relationship with the world and social issues at stake. While the evidence on transmission of collective historical traumas and its impact on contemporary practices of structural violence in different regions and sociopolitical environments is rich, the question of how to translate this topic into “universal,” “global” language of the videogame, demands a serious consideration of cultural relativism, (visual) representations and overall global power hierarchies and inequalities. This chapter addresses the creation of the videogame Memory Gliders and the challenges in providing content materials while aiming to address global, culturally diverse, and complex audiences.
