Becker College, in Massachusetts, took an unusual step to encourage participation in the state’s upcoming gubernatorial election—the institution commissioned a video game about it.
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Becker College, in Massachusetts, took an unusual step to encourage participation in the state’s upcoming gubernatorial election—the institution commissioned a video game about it.
The free online game, Race for the Ballot, allows players to select one of the state’s four gubernatorial candidates and steer the politician around a running track before time runs out on Election Day. Along the way, the players have to avoid politically themed obstacles of pork-barrel spending, red tape, and, of course, the other candidates.
Tim Loew, director of academic planning and operations at Becker, came up with the idea while he was reading his hometown newspaper, The Toronto Star, one day in September. An article in the paper described a Canadian company that created an online game that spoofed Pacman to promote Toronto’s mayoral election to 18- to 34-year-olds.
“Active citizenship is an important piece of creating well-rounded graduates,” Mr. Loew said. “I wanted to see if there was a way to encourage our students to discover the race in more detail than they would’ve on their own.”
Mr. Loew contacted Terrasa Ulm, a professor of game development at the college, to see if any of her students could create a similar game for the Massachusetts race. Ms. Ulm recruited three of her students, Adam DeZago, Shaun Dutton, and Torrey Kimball, to take on the project. In a race of their own, the students spent an average of 10 hours a day in the course of a week and a half to complete the game before the midterm elections.
Mr. Dutton, a video-game major, said he volunteered to gain experience. “I get involved in any project asked of me,” he said. “However, I think it’s been a cool way to get the younger crowd into voting. Most people vote for president, but they need to realize that voting for governors is important, too.”
So-called “serious games” designed to promote a social or political message are not a new concept to higher education. Though Mr. Dutton admitted this game is mostly recreational, it does have an educational component. When players are trying to decide which candidate they want to be in the game, they are offered links to the candidates’ Web sites.
The game site has seen only meager traffic since it went online October 19: approximately 500 unique visits. But Mr. Loew said he is pleased with how well the game has been received.
“Hopefully, young people who might not necessarily have been engaged in the political process end up getting involved and voting.”
