A New Way to Tell a Story

One reason Gotham Gazette has long been intrigued by the idea of so-called serious games is that they offer another way to tell a story. And the more methods one uses to tell a story, the more people will read (or hear, or watch, or play) that story. As a site on NYC policy and politics, it's been our mission from the beginning to try to attract people beyond the base of Wonks and City Hall habitues (no offense intended; they are, after all, a loyal and helpful audience). To do that, we try to tell present complicated issues in a clear way, eschewing jargon and acronyms and trying, when possible, to inject a little humor and humunaity into stories about the building code, sustainability and crumbling infrastructure. With the games, we hope to take that one step further, providing people a chance to put themselves in the shoes of policymakers, thinking and clicking their way through a game that -- while we don't expect to rival Halo -- will be fun, attractive and provide important information about our city. In a several weeks, we'll try it out on some teenagers.I'll let you know what they think.