ABSTRACT
Contemporary computer games are increasingly being used both to entertain people as well as to “educate, train, and inform” them (Michael and Chen 2006). Refugee games belong to this so-called genre of “serious games”: these games frame refugee issues by letting the player taste life as a refugee. Refugee games have the potential to convince players of the veracity of a certain point of view or the necessity of a behavioral change. But they also help non-profit organizations (such as the United Nations and Free Press Unlimited) and commercial enterprises (such as Reebok, the music channel MTV, Microsoft, and Konami) to reinvent activism and political engagement for the Internet generation. During the last few decades, refugee games have addressed all kinds of political problems. Against All Odds (2005), Food Force (2005, 2011), Darfur is Dying (2006), and On the Ground Reporter: Darfur (2010) were used as educational tools to teach people about what it is like to be a refugee, about famine and humanitarian aid, and the hostilities and genocide in Darfur. 1
