The Chinese government has spent billions in recent years to subsidize artistic enterprises, with an eye toward wielding "soft power" beyond its borders. It hasn't been notably successful. But China's video game industry -- as of last year, the world's biggest -- is on the verge of becoming one of its most valuable cultural exports. It just might succeed where so much Chinese entertainment has failed in the past.

For government agencies and NGOs that work to foster peace [...] video games are the obvious next step in the fight to reach new audiences and change minds. […] And quite apart from the large, established game market in North America, Europe, and Asia, the gaming population in some conflict zones around the world is large and growing.

Since 2004, Games for Change, a nonprofit group, has designed and promoted games that inspire players not to zap space aliens but instead to change the world for the better. In the first game released by the group, called PeaceMaker, gamers were invited to broker peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Recent research conducted by ScienceDaily shows that playing cooperative video games, as opposed to playing competitive or solo games, elicits a host of social benefits among players of different backgrounds. The evidence suggests that it encourages teammates to see helpful, collaborative behaviors as both valuable and commonplace.

“We’ve spent decades making their toys, their shoes, and even their flags,” a deep voice intones in Mandarin as US military tanks trundle across a desert. ”All the while, enduring their condescension and biding our time…finally the moment has come; now they will know our greatness.” A group of American soldiers looks up at the sky that suddenly fills with screaming jets, missiles, explosions, fire and fumes.