Gaming as giving? Can social take games beyond pure entertainment?

New York Times columnist and Pulitzer Prize winner Nick Kristof sure hopes so. He's planning to launch a Facebook game that raises awareness of global humanitarian crises while providing a mechanism for donations, as outlined in this Mashable feature.

The game will apparently be similar to FarmVille. I've never played FarmVille, but I can imagine many would get excited about this. The opportunity for exponentially increasing awareness via social networks is huge and no doubt many will excitedly share their experience.

I wonder if there will be an app – I've purchased National Geographic's Build It Green – Back to the Beach , which is essentially a sustainable development twist on games like civilisation, so I can see there would be room for more games focused on social impact.

Using myself as an example, I know that online payments and digital marketing have certainly made it easier to engage with causes and to donate money. Both the Christchurch and East Japan earthquakes made huge use of social media to engage, inform and gather donations, so I think this trend is here to stay. Can't wait to try the game!