Wouldn't it be amazing and beautiful if we could all make the world a better place by playing together?

In 2002 the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington D.C. launched the "Serious Games Initiative". The term “serious games” was coined to describe the broad academic and commercial application of game design to non-entertainment outcomes. Specifically, a serious game is a game that exists in the service of something other than fun. The fun, if any, is a means to a different end. Typical serious games involve training and simulations.

I propose a nascent genre of serious game has emerged: the constructive game. The folks at Carnegie Melon call it "gwap" - games with a purpose. My intent is to formalize the constructive game genre and to create a like-minded community that furthers the purpose of converting individual and group play into lasting social value.

A constructive game is distinguished from the broader family of serious games, of which it is a type. A constructive game is a serious game that meets the preceding definitions and, furthermore, is not a constructive game if the outcome is limited to player education, simulation, or other worthy outcomes. The definition of constructive game is intentionally narrow:

Wouldn't it be amazing and beautiful if we could all make the world a better place by playing together?

In 2002 the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington D.C. launched the "Serious Games Initiative". The term “serious games” was coined to describe the broad academic and commercial application of game design to non-entertainment outcomes. Specifically, a serious game is a game that exists in the service of something other than fun. The fun, if any, is a means to a different end. Typical serious games involve training and simulations.

I propose a nascent genre of serious game has emerged: the constructive game. The folks at Carnegie Melon call it "gwap" - games with a purpose. My intent is to formalize the constructive game genre and to create a like-minded community that furthers the purpose of converting individual and group play into lasting social value.

A constructive game is distinguished from the broader family of serious games, of which it is a type. A constructive game is a serious game that meets the preceding definitions and, furthermore, is not a constructive game if the outcome is limited to player education, simulation, or other worthy outcomes. The definition of constructive game is intentionally narrow: