Persuasive Games designs, builds, and distributes videogames for persuasion, instruction, and activism
I do professional game development and game design consulting at Persuasive Games. I co-founded the studio in 2003 with Gerard LaFond.
Persuasive Games created the first official US Presidential Election game for Howard Dean in 2003. Since then, we’ve created games for political campaigns, advertisers, educators, and corporations, as well as our own original work.
Design Philosophy
Persuasive Games designs, builds, and distributes videogames for persuasion, instruction, and activism. Our games influence players to take action through gameplay. Games communicate differently than other media; they not only deliver messages, but also simulate experiences. While often thought to be just a leisure activity, games can also become rhetorical tools. Our design philosophy at Persuasive Games is derived from my theory of procedural rhetoric, described and exemplified in detail in my book Persuasive Games.
Our Work
Some of the studio’s better known games include Disaffected!, a satire of the Kinko’s copy store, Airport Security, one of our “Arcade Wire” series of newsgames published on Shockwave.com, our groundbreaking editorial game publishing relationship with The New York Times, and more. Some screenshots of our games appear below.
Consulting
Persuasive Games is available for design consulting and game development. You can visit the studio website to see all the games and learn more about the company, or contact me directly for more information.