You have entered the world of Games and Public Diplomacy

Welcome! The purpose of this space: to document my research on the potential of video games in the realm of public diplomacy.  With the rise of “info-tainment”, “edutainment” and political marketing, there has been merge between politics and popular culture. One burgeoning form of popular culture is that of video games. As technology advances and this interactive media becomes more and more sophisticated, the reach and influence of video games is expanding exponentially. Can institutions utilize video games and massively multi-player online games to promote public diplomacy? How could a game be designed to proport principles and characteristics of public diplomacy? I hope to find some answers.

As for myself, I am currently the project manager for Public Diplomacy and Virtual Worlds at the Center for Public Diplomacy. I am also a graduate student in Global Communications at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California. Last year at the London School of Economics I wrote my thesis entitled, “Can Space Invaders bring World Peace? A Study of Political Communication and Video Games.” It emerged from a nagging idea to somehow tie my previous studies in Foreign Service to my previous work experience in the gaming industry.

As for my gaming experience, I would call myself a wanna-be gamer. I believe in the medium (how very academic sounding). I hope to illustrate to the general public (students, parents, politicians, gamers and non-gamers, etc.), through journaling my budding experiences through games and discussing my research, that games have the potential to promote cross-cultural communication and understanding.

In short, I believe that games can change the world.

So let’s play!