Darfur Is Dying
Older game still drives home grim realities of refugee life
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Darfur Is Dying
Pros: Jarring and uncontrollable circumstances build perspective and fuel inquiry.
Cons: Tough subject matter needs real world context to ground students' perspectives.
Bottom Line: Despite its technical shortcomings and outdated mechanics, the game is a worthwhile experience that has perspective-changing potential when well-scaffolded.
Assign Darfur is Dying as homework early on in a longer unit exploring human rights or current global issues (particularly if looking at parts of Africa). The game is better as an entry point than a culminating experience, but don’t miss out on the opportunity to use it before and after discussion to see how learners’ ideas about what's taking place evolve. If playing the online version during class, don’t forget that a browser is required for each player (no multi-player option), and so bandwidth and the Flash requirement might be an issue. As with any game, play it first to make sure that the nature of the content suits your learners and your goals, and to prepare necessary extension materials to offer students context.
To build on the experience, reverse engineer –- or have students reverse engineer -- Darfur is Dying as an offline game. In the offline version of the game, fold in different issues for players to tackle (e.g., disease or regime change). Divide students into families or assign different roles, and add variables (including random events and more current context) that deepen engagement.
Darfur is Dying is a Web-based simulation that offers students some perspective on the struggles of non-Arab citizens of western Sudan in the midst of the ongoing conflict that began in 2003. Since the game explores a serious humanitarian emergency -- and is many years old -- the call to action tends to upstage mechanics and polish. Players spend time in two main areas, a camp and the desert. In the camp, players manage the village's resources and water supply. When water runs out, it's off to the hostile desert for foraging. Here, the player searches for a well while hiding from menacing Janjaweed militia. When the player succeeds, the camp's resources are replenished and it survives another day. When unsuccessful, the player's character is captured and notified that a person in a similar situation in Sudan might face abduction, rape, and/or murder (all described in text without graphic violence).
What it lacks in design polish, Darfur is Dying makes up for with a provocative experience likely to pique interest, raise important questions, and build perspective. These three assets give Darfur lots of potential as a support for great teachers who won't mind filling in missing context and history. Make no mistake, there are extremely tough topics, so teachers must provide necessary context for students and be prepared to discuss kidnapping, genocide, and rape with their students. Also teachers should be prepared to explain to students that these issues aren't uniquely African or the product of Africans by showing them that these atrocities unfortunately cut across history, ethnicity/race, and culture.
Note that text is the primary vehicle for instructions, story, and most of the facts and testimonials about villagers in the camp. The good news is that the text also presents an excellent introduction to essential vocabulary for exploring global events: human rights, non-governmental organizations, and militia, to name a few.
Learning Rating
Community Rating
Good Concept Tough to Play
My overall take is I like the effort that was made here, but the game just does not cut it. The game puts you in the shoes of a regular person in Darfur. Everything game play wise hinges on you being able to forage for water for the village. Foraging for Water is VERY hard as you have to avoid the militia taking you. You can also go into the village but there is not much to do there. I think you could use this to make a quick point about how hard people in Darfur's life is and the human rights abuses in the world, but I think students would become bored of the gameplay very quick.
Also, I question the use of Flash in todays world. With many schools adopting iPads, Flash is not a great choice
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