Apps, come in all shapes and sizes. They are designed keeping in mind a supreme purpose say entertainment or to develop intellectual skills of the player. That's how much thought designers put into a app while developing it. For us, it a just a touch or click game.
In view of such apps-of-purpose, we stumbled upon one such app - Freerice, that is serving a great cause for the sake of humanity. All one needs to do is play, earn points as rice and contribute to the World Food Programme.
An annexe website of the Rome-based WFP, a online campaign was kickstarted in 2007 to "feed a child for Thanksgiving" wherein web users would actively participate by playing this game. Thanksgiving is a time of celebration and feasting. This was seen as a opportunity to capitalize charity with gaming, in a holistic manner. The site was officially donated to the UN body in 2009 and was christened as "Freerice"(older version was FreeRice).
Based on the "click-to-donate" model, the gaming app was able to generate 42 billion grains of rice within first 10 months of its launch. Following a good marketing campaign, the numbers have only risen since then. Statistics reveal that as of April 2013, the players have contribute over 10 million meals.
Facts and figures aside, a genuine doubt most of will be asking is - is it trustworthy? How can a game actually materialize into a rice-sponsoring mechanism?
We thought it's a sham too. So we went digging for reality.
The key to the website has been the active advertising done by sponsors be it a CEO or a normal student or a gamer. By playing this vocab building game, with various categories and subjects, one becomes a virtual sponsor to educating and feeding a needy child in some part of the world. FYI, all the content is authentically designed by Harvard's Berkman Centre for Internet & Society. So credibility is just not an issue you need to worry about.
How can you get started with the game?
Leaving aside the charity aspect, the game is highly addictive and informative at the same time. One simply has to log onto the site or download the app on their phone.It provides 8 subject categories- Humanities, English (vocabulary and grammar), Maths, Chemistry, Language Learning, Geography, Sciences, Sat Test Preparation. It is basically a vocab drill with difficulty levels, keeping in view the various participative age groups. Now that's another aspect that delighted us honestly. Anybody with common sense knowledge can get going with the game.
We thought it's a sham too. So we went digging for reality.
The key to the website has been the active advertising done by sponsors be it a CEO or a normal student or a gamer. By playing this vocab building game, with various categories and subjects, one becomes a virtual sponsor to educating and feeding a needy child in some part of the world. FYI, all the content is authentically designed by Harvard's Berkman Centre for Internet & Society. So credibility is just not an issue you need to worry about.
How can you get started with the game?
Leaving aside the charity aspect, the game is highly addictive and informative at the same time. One simply has to log onto the site or download the app on their phone.It provides 8 subject categories- Humanities, English (vocabulary and grammar), Maths, Chemistry, Language Learning, Geography, Sciences, Sat Test Preparation. It is basically a vocab drill with difficulty levels, keeping in view the various participative age groups. Now that's another aspect that delighted us honestly. Anybody with common sense knowledge can get going with the game.
The game starts at the middle school level vocab, soon transcending to more difficult words. For each correct answer, 10 grains get donated. Missed out words are repeated later on. The leader board, ranking top players and Groups of the week are listed on the site.
Added to this, users can learn a lot about the philanthropic cause that the UN is championing by reading their FAQ section.
Well having laid down the basics, it is an individual choice if we want to take up to this "cause gaming". How many hours have we wasted playing countless games, wrestling it out with friends and family to get that upper edge? Coming to this game, it is actually a "life saving" game that all of us can contribute easily. The quality of content on offer and the sheer fun of playing a intellectully stimulating game is what makes it different for us.
We hope that many of you will willingly sign up for this cause. But hey don't forget to have your fun amidst all this philanthrophy.Well having laid down the basics, it is an individual choice if we want to take up to this "cause gaming". How many hours have we wasted playing countless games, wrestling it out with friends and family to get that upper edge? Coming to this game, it is actually a "life saving" game that all of us can contribute easily. The quality of content on offer and the sheer fun of playing a intellectully stimulating game is what makes it different for us.
Happy play-time folks!
Leave us your thoughts, ideas and comments in the section below. If you want to get your app/ website featured by us, simply shoot us a mail and we would happily oblige.
Stay tuned with E-junkie for more fun filled apps and websites from across the Web world.
Post a Comment