The debate has been going on for years: are computer games merely entertainment or can they actually teach skills that address some of contemporary society's most pressing problems?

A three-year long collaboration between experts on nonviolent conflict and veteran game designers has produced the answer: a simulation game that teaches the strategy of nonviolent conflict. For practice, A Force More Powerful - the Game of Nonviolent Strategy (AFMP) offers its players ten scenarios, inspired by recent history, including conflicts against dictators, occupiers, colonizers, and corrupt regimes; and struggles to secure the political and human rights of ethnic and racial minorities and women.

AFMP is the first and only game to teach the methods of influencing or changing the political environment using nonviolent methods. Destined for use by activists and leaders of nonviolent resistance and opposition movements, the game will also educate the media and general public on the potential of nonviolent action; and serve as a simulation tool for academic studies of nonviolent resistance.

A Force More Powerful - the Game of Nonviolent Strategy is a co-production of the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC) and York Zimmerman Inc. The project was advised by veterans of recent nonviolent campaigns, including Ivan Marovic of Otpor, the Serbian resistance movement that played a critical role in ousting Slobodan Milosevic.

For more information about the game, visit www.afmpgame.com.