The Public Diplomacy and Virtual Worlds project is a research project examining one aspect of new technology and public diplomacy: the role of video games, specifically Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs), in public diplomacy. The project is directed by Doug Thomas and Joshua Fouts.
The Competition: The project is also host to the "Reinventing Public Diplomacy Through Games Competition," a grant-funded competition for people to showcase their talent with a bit of world class game-making. The challenge to the game mod community, and current and aspiring game designers is as folllows: design a prototype or modify a game incorporating the fundamental characteristics of public diplomacy.
http://www.uscpublicdiplomacy.org/index.php/projects/contest/
For more information, please visit www.uscpublicdiplomacy.org