In 2021 I got a very mysterious email; “Would you be interested in helping create an alternate reality game for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq?” Although the invitation itself seemed like an invitation to an Alternate Reality Game, I connected anyway, and I'm happy I did.
For the past three years I've been teaching pervasive game design and transmedia storytelling to a group of university and postgraduates from ten cities in Iraq. The task was to generate an immersive creative narrative and game design specific to each city with the ten coordinators. The goal was to design projects for young people across the country to support, educate, and motivate teachers and students on climate change issues.
The UN places Iraq among the top five countries impacted by climate change most worldwide, with increasing loss of arable land due to sanitization, less rainfall, prolonged heat waves, and an onslaught of dust storms. This affects young people in particular, who feel a deep sense of pessimism about the future of their country. For this project, a team of young Kurds and Arabs had been brought together by the UN to become a collaborative working community.
“Take it from your mind and put it into their hearts because smart words won’t create the change you aspire to.”
The tangible outcome is a vibrant cross-cultural community of young individuals actively participating in their democracy, driving change for their future. Through the infusion of play and creativity, their passion for action has been ignited, creating a ripple effect that invites others to join them in making a positive impact.
It began in 2021, in three Kurdish cities, with my design of an alternate reality game about a time-traveling smart phone and by 2023 we launched ten games and festivals designed by my Iraqi students in ten cities Baghdad, Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Halabja, Dohuk, Najaf, Basra, Mosul, Dhi Qar, Nasiriyah. The "storytellers" led their teams in each of these ten cities in festivals, which led to a combined national Hackathon event held in Dohok. The game festivals led to hundreds of proposals narrowed down for the final twenty who participated in a weeklong hackathon where they presented their idea proposals to the supporting government officers, NGOs, and the environmental science community. The programs' success has led to increased support, enabling us to expand to incorporate an additional larger youth action group.
The use of games and role play to generate attention and engagement is a critical increased participation by young people in Iraq. Additionally, it has led to creative teams that span the divides of Kurd and Arab leading to a partnership.