PeaceMaker: Impact Guide For Players

PeaceMaker is a political simulation game from ImpactGames in which players take on the role of either the Israeli Prime Minister or the Palestinian President and attempt to create peace between the two countries. Choosing to play as either Israel or Palestine directs a player to acknowledge the needs of both sides, though players are able to focus primarily on the country of their choosing, learning their motives and needs in depth. Beyond managing pressing political issues, players are tasked with listening to the needs of their people, exploring different social, economic, and cultural concerns both unique and shared between the two countries. Beginning as a student project in 2005, PeaceMaker grew to become one of the most important serious games created to date. Described as a “video game to teach peace” by its creators, the game has gone on to receive high praise for its gameplay and immersive educational simulation. Notably, PeaceMaker received the 2007 award for Best Transformation Game at the Games for Change annual contest, along with placing as a finalist in both the Serious Games Showcase as well as Ashoka’s Entrepreneuring Peace contest.

Theme: Citizenship and Leadership

PeaceMaker is, at its core, a political simulation game, placing the player in the position of a world leader in near complete control of the country of their choosing. Players must consider not only the needs of their own country, but the needs of the opposing country as they strive to create peace found in a two-nation state. At the same time, the player is given constant updates of their progress through opinion meters, reflecting the opinion of their leadership through their people, those of the opposing country, and the world, as well as political and militant groups, the United States, the United Nations, and the Arab world. Polls, too, allow the player to view the way that their actions in relation to security, leadership and authority, and cooperation, among others, are viewed on a scale of green for positive and red for negative.

Game

• Disregarding the optional tutorial level, the game does not offer any hints for what players must do when they begin a new game. Why do you think that is? How does that affect the game as a whole? • What actions are the easiest to accomplish early in the game? What are the most difficult? How does that change as the game progresses? What becomes easier and what becomes more difficult? • In what ways do the actions available to you as a player mimic the sort of concerns that world leaders face every day? Were they authentic? • Which difficulty level best represented your opinion of the current state of affairs between the two countries? Which one was the most fun or the most challenging? • In what ways could you engage in the political process? Did you have complete power? Were there checks on your actions?

Player

• What did being a leader mean to you? What actions were most important to you? • How closely did your actions supplement your own desires as a leader? Were you influenced by the polls, public opinion, advisers, and/or your opposing leader? How did they affect your decisions, if at all? • What type of policy did you adopt as a world leader? Did the game environment or chosen difficulty affect it in any way? • How closely do you feel the game depicted your idea of a position of leadership? Do you feel your experience was authentic? If you could improve the experience, what would you change to make it more realistic? • What decisions were the most difficult to make? Did you face any ethical dilemmas while playing this game? What were they?

World

• What sort of issues and concerns must world leaders work with every day? • How are leaders influenced by their people? By other governments? By the United Nations? By political organizations? • What difficulties or obstacles do world leaders face when creating new policies and instituting new legislation? • What is the importance of public opinion?

Theme: Cultural Clashes and Peace

PeaceMaker confines its focus to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict specifically, offering a unique play experience from both sides. Though the goal of the game remains the same despite the nation played as, each country has specific concerns and challenges to overcome. Israel must contend with its citizens’ desire to suppress Palestinians, while they are likewise judged on their sympathy for the opposing nation. Palestine, in contrast, must focus on the state of its economy as well as its citizens’ desire for independence. The game serves to inform and educate about the nature of the conflict as well as the needs and desires of the cultures, while promoting peaceful action and reaction to create the two- nation state.

Game

• What concerns are shared between the Palestinians and this Israelis? What concerns are unique? • What actions caused violent response? What actions caused peaceful response? • In what ways did concerns of both countries complement one another? How were they solved? • How does the game end peacefully? How does the game end violently?

Player

• Did you choose to play as Israel or Palestine? Did previous experience or knowledge affect your decision?

• What does peace mean to you? Were you happy with the ending creation of the two-nation state? Would you suggest a different ending? • How did you react to the violent responses? Peaceful responses? How did they affect the choices you made on your next turn? • What did you learn about the Israeli culture? What did you learn about the Palestinian culture? Did the game help you understand the reasons for their conflict? • What strategy worked best for creating peace? What didn’t work as well?

World

• What is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict all about? Why does it continue to this day? • What do you know about the countries themselves? Do you support one side over the other? Why? Did the game change your opinion? • Based on what you have learned, what sort of policies help create peace? Is it easy to achieve peace?

Theme: Real Time Strategy and Playing the News

PeaceMaker’s game mechanic is that of a real time strategy game, in which the game responds to players with every decision they make. As a player makes administrative decisions as a leader, they are able to immediately see the affects their choices have in the space. PeaceMaker, notably, has a unique way of responding to actions; after an action is made, sometimes players will be prompted to view a Playing the News segment, where real footage of unrest in Israel and Palestine is shown, bringing real- world ties into the game space and establishing the importance of the need for peace.

Game

• What is a real time strategy (RTS) game? What elements of this game make it an RTS? • What function did the Playing the News segments serve in the game? How often did they appear? • How was time oriented in the game? How did time affect the actions that could be taken on any given turn?

Player

• How did you react to the clips shown in the Playing the News segments? Did they affect the way you continued to play the game? Why or why not? • How did you manage time? Did it help or hinder your desired policy choices? • In what ways did the RTS format help make the game more or less interesting? If you could alter the way the game was presented, what would you change and why?

World

• Where in real life are segments like Playing the News found and used? What purpose does it serve? • In what ways does time affect the political process? Can major changes come in a week?