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The Redistricting Game



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Age Range Brief Description

The Redistricting Game educates, engages, and empowers citizens around the issue of congressional redistricting. As is illustrated in the game, our system is subject to a range of manipulations and helps fuel long-term political polarization in the U.S. Those empowered to change the system – congress - have the least incentive to do so.

Release Date June 7, 2007

Developer USC Game Innovation Lab

Project Lead Chris Swain

Press Coverage

http://redistrictinggame.blogspot.com/

Press Release URL
sev.prnewswire.com/education/20070608/DCF05908062007-1.html

Full Description

The Redistricting Game is designed to educate, engage, and empower citizens around the issue of political redistricting. Currently, the political system in most states allows the state legislators themselves to draw the lines. This system is subject to a wide range of abuses and manipulations that encourage incumbents to draw districts which protect their seats rather than risk an open contest.

By exploring how the system works, as well as how open it is to abuse, The Redistricting Game allows players to experience the realities of one of the most important (yet least understood) aspects of our political system. The game provides a basic introduction to the redistricting system, allows players to explore the ways in which abuses can undermine the system, and provides info about reform initiatives - including a playable version of the Tanner Reform bill to demonstrate the ways that the system might be made more consistent with tenets of good governance. Beyond playing the game, the web site for The Redistricting Game provides a wealth of information about redistricting in every state as well as providing hands-on opportunities for civic engagement and political action.

The developers of the game coordinated efforts with leading redistricting reform groups including FairVote.org, League of Women Voters, and the Campaign Legal Center.


Purpose

The Redistricting Game lets players redistrict states using the rule of U.S. law as the in-game rules.  The game also illustrates the implications of redistricting abuse via an in-game newspaper.  The theory is that if people understand the broken nature of our current system - as learned by hands-on play - then they will be engaged enough to take civic action.

Metrics
 How are you measuring results?
 We measure transfer of knowledge and opinion changes via a post game survey. We also measure the number of letters sent to congress by players.

What outcomes have been measured?
 The game does influence people's attitudes however very few letters to congress have been generated by the game.

Non-Profit involved: yes


Funding Sources: Annenberg Center for Communications

Budget
Overall: 220,000
Secured: 220,000

Social Issue Channels


Game Tags

politics, social change, redistricting, reform, Tanner Bill, HR 2642, John Tanner, FairVote.org, League of Women Voters, The Campaign Legal Center, Council for Excellence in Government

Where you can play this game The game is free and plays directly in a web browser via http://www.redistrictinggame.org

Contacts
General: Chris Swain, christopherswain@yahoo.com
Press: John Zollinger, jzollinger@cinema.usc.edu

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