Games for Social Change
MIT's Comparative Media Studies workshop has student teams design and prototype games meant to drive social change and civic engagement. Sessions combine assigned readings, discussion of game design principles, and the social history of games with presentations from guest speakers drawn from academia, industry, non-profits, and the gaming industry. Teams iterate on prototypes throughout the term and the course closes with an open house where finished games are showcased publicly. Materials available through MIT OpenCourseWare include the syllabus, readings list, and assignment structure, letting learners follow the same design process students use to build a working game with a civic purpose. No certificate is offered, but the full course framework is free to use under MIT's open license.