Creating Online Games That Educate and Instruct

In 2007 the British government turned to Kati London, a producer at game-design studio Area/Code in New York City. London is a leader in the small but growing field of people "interested in games for engagement rather than escape," as she puts it.

A recent winner of Technology Review's 2010 Young Innovator award, she uses real-world data in online games that are meant to educate or change off-line behavior. For the U.K., London and her team built a game called Code of Everand, which launched in 2009. Everand's 170,000 users play as Pathfinders navigating a dangerous fantasy world. The game is filled with subtle cues to encourage street safety. Pathfinders crossing a road-like "spirit channel" must look in both directions to check for monsters with outlines that resemble those of some autos; the Mossy Zichlid, for instance, looks like a cement truck in profile. The monsters' speed and frequency are derived from traffic data recorded at U.K. intersections. The idea is to "mimic the natural rhythms of traffic," says London, "and train the brain to adopt the same look-and-wait behavior in real life." The government has commissioned an independent evaluation of the game's impact that is due in spring 2011.