Games for Change Asia-Pacific Journal

This second issue of the Games for Change Asia-Pacific Journal embodies the use of games in drawing attention to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs).  The 2030 Agenda which introduced the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was agreed to by all 193 member states of the United Nations (UN) in 2015. The 2030 Agenda called for global action on some of the world’s most pressing problems related to poverty, inequality, health, climate change, peace and prosperity (UN, 2020).

Gamified immersive technologies can forefront the world's wicked and sometimes cognitively challenging problems. Games provide opportunities to problem solve and show, through their design features, how they would deal with the challenges posed by the seventeen unique but interrelated SDGs.

Games offer a unique educational medium to help to “ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development … human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development” (UN SDG, Target 4.7).  The insightful and provocative articles in this issue can be analysed through the lens of the UN SDGs to help demonstrate the impact of games to society more broadly.