Tap and Swipe for a Good Cause
In Sidekick Cycle from the Global Gaming Initiative, players race across the African terrain.
Mobile games are designed to be simple endeavors, something to pass the time while waiting in a doctor's office or for a train. But the Global Gaming Initiative wants to elevate them to a higher purpose.
Founded in 2010, the Global Gaming Initiative is an organization of game developers that seeks to connect mobile games and philanthropy. The group selects charities, then develops a mobile game that can provide support to the charity through in-app purchases. The hope is that if each player spends a couple of dollars in the game, it can add up to thousands of dollars for the charity.
The group's first project is Sidekick Cycle, which raises money to buy bicycles for impoverished communities. The game is free to download for iOS devices (an Android game is coming later this year), and 50 percent of the proceeds from in-app purchases go to the organization's partner, World Bicycle Relief, a nonprofit organization that provides bicycles in Africa, South America and Southeast Asia.
The game is easy to play: tap on the screen to trek through Africa's rugged landscape on a bike, performing jumps and other stunts to collect coins and gears as you race down mountains and across savannas. Along the way, you can customize the bike, upgrade your gear and add a sidekick, like a rhino or a rabbit, to increase your strength or speed.
At its release, the game had about 35 levels, which isn't much compared with popular and addictive mobile games like Angry Birds and Cut the Rope, but the Global Gaming Initiative has promised to update the game with more action, including adding terrains from North America. Sidekick Cycle is not quite as engaging as it could be, but at least your tapping and swiping skills could help a good cause.
A version of this web log appears in print on October 24, 2013, on page B8 of the New York edition with the headline: Tap and Swipe, and Spend In-App Cash, for a Good Cause.
