Video game encourages peace

The other side wants peace, too," said Asi Burak, while demonstrating the controversial video game PeaceMaker at De Anza College on Nov. 15.

He and Eric Brown, CEO of Impact Games and co-creator of PeaceMaker, spoke at the event sponsored by the club, Jews, Israelis and Friends. The game is about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and unlike most games, which feature violence and war-like themes, it challenges players to achieve a peaceful resolution.

"In this game you get to be the peacemaker," Burak said. "It is our challenge, and it is very difficult."

In the game, the player assumes the role of either the Israeli prime minister or the Palestinian President, and can take a number of actions, from diplomatic negotiations to military attacks, while interacting with eight other political leaders and social groups in order to establish a stable resolution to the Middle Eastern conflict before the term in office ends.

Burak and Brown designed PeaceMaker with other students at Carnegie Mellon University, to see if they could create a video game about serious issues and current events that would be as engaging as commercial video games. Released last February, PeaceMaker placed 77th in Game Tunnel's Top 100 Indie Games list.

"The game is about small steps you can take to build trust," said Burak.

The built-in ending, a two-state solution, is not a secret. The creators encourage dialogue about the ending.

At the event, Karim Mansouri, a member of De Anza's Students for Justice Club asked, "Why can't there be a one-state solution?"

"One-state is not a popular solution among the Israelis," Burak said.

"I think a two-state solution is the only way to make peace in the Middle East," said Maya Kostyanovsky, a member of Jews, Israelis and Friends. "A one-state solution would be unfair to both sides."

Kostyanovsky played the game a couple of times and said she was thinking of purchasing it to learn more. "A lot of people just see what's on TV," she said. "This game gives insight and opens up your eyes to what's really going on."

That's the idea of the game, to test players' "skills, assumptions and prior knowledge," and let them see if they can bring peace to the Middle East, or if they will "plunge the region into disaster."

"It's a complex game," Kostyanovsky said. "Neither one is the good guy or the bad guy - that's what I really like about it."

"The notion that one side is responsible is something we have definitely tried to change," Burak said.

"From time to time we are receiving angry emails criticizing our asymmetrical design: how come the Palestinian President cannot attack Israel directly while the Israeli PM has a robust branch of military options to choose from," Burak wrote in a blog on the Peacemaker Web site.

"Our assumption is based on the current situation and the current tool set of both leaders. The two sides are unbalanced and we're trying to demonstrate that."

"The most important thing about this game is not the details," said Brown. "The most important thing is to look at the conflict from the other side's point of view - something we as humans don't do."

The game is available in English, Arabic and Hebrew for $20 at www.impactgames.com.

La Voz

Paula WarnerIssue date: 11/26/07 Section: Features