competition that teaches middle and high school students about game design and computer programming. The program provides a game design curriculum for students and encourages them to create a game based on a social impact theme. Since the competition takes place in various locations (New York City, Detroit, Atlanta, and Los Angeles), Games for Change partners with local organizations to support each community. For example, in 2017, Games for Change partnered with the Annenberg Foundation and Riot Games to bring the program to over 600 Los Angeles students, encouraging them to create games about wildlife conservation, news literacy, and kindness. Games curation The organization also curates a continuously growing body of "digital and non-digital games that engage contemporary social issues in a meaningful way". The game Sweatshop is an example of a past digital game curated by the Games for Change organization. Launched in 2011 by Littleloud, it is strategy game about offshore clothing manufacturing. The player plays the role of a factory manager responsible for hiring workers, completing store orders, and meeting the demands of clients while trying to balance ethical decisions with rising demands. The game has 30 levels that increase in difficulty and complexity, and introduce new worker types and real-world sweatshop problems such as fires, unions and the lack of toilets that add authenticity to the game mechanics. The game utilizes the mechanics of tower defense, which have been used in many entertainment games such as Plants vs. Zombies. In Sweatshop, the clothing materials on the conveyor belt can be likened to “enemies”, and the factory workers who turn the materials into finished product can be seen as the defending “troops”. The use of tower defense mechanics allows the player to strategize how they will meet client demands in each level. The player must choose either to keep the workers safe and satisfied or sacrifice their well-being for factory efficiency, and because of these difficult decisions the game has been known for its ability to evoke guilt in players. Many players have reported their struggle to keep workers safe when trying to win more difficult levels. Littleloud worked with the British charity Labour Behind The Label to ensure the game was factually accurate, but due to controversy over its content the game was eventually removed from the Apple App store. References External links 501(c)(3) organizations Environmental education video games Gaming organizations Humanitarian video games International non-profit