SmileUrbo, an innovative educational game
Development, Education, SmileUrbo
On July 10th, at a meeting for the final evaluation of the project SmileUrbo, The Village Game, took place in Barcelona. This game won a contest in 2013 for the Province of Barcelona in the category of Education and Awareness for Development.
Throughout the past year, the organization driving the project, Smilemundo, has worked on the design, content, and development of the game. It was presented to five municipalities in the province of Barcelona in May and June. These municipalities – Sant Cugat, Sant Feliu de Llobregat, Rubí, Igualada and Castellvi Rosanes – were the first to organize the game to play with local participants.
The meeting to evaluate the project took place on the premises of the Pati Manning. In attendance were the Head of the Office for Cooperation and Development of the Provincial Council of Barcelona, Albert Torres; representatives of the five municipalities; the founder of Smilemundo, Aleksandra Zemke, and the partners of the project: iWith.org Foundation and the Universitat de Girona.
During the meeting, the municipalities offered their feedback on the gaming experience, providing suggestions and ideas for improvements. Overall, the response has been very positive, as the municipalities enjoy the innovation and the many possibilities that the game presents.
The given presentation of the website SmileUrbo explained how the game is organized. The ultimate goal is for the game to be played independently via web by all municipalities in the province. Moreover, the idea is for its continuous spread to NGOs, schools and other entities. Looking forward to September, we will work on a plan for distribution and communication of the project locally.
SmileUrbo is an interactive role-playing game designed to promote citizenship along with the values of cooperation and education for development. The game presents a simulated scenario that recreates the real problems of the communities in today’s developing countries. By taking active roles based on collaboration and dialogue, throughout the game players will discover the impact of their decisions on human, social and environmental components of the community, while learning to understand and relate these issues to their real-life communities themselves.