War in Scandinavia – the Facebook game

Doctors without Borders / MSF (Sweden, Denmark and Norway)
War in Scandinavia – the Facebook game

Scandinavia is at war. Seriously wounded in a bomb raid you need urgent medical care to survive. When you finally reach the hospital you’re offered medical help… on condition that you turn in three of your friends to the military.

These days armed factions in warzones increasingly offer medical and humanitarian aid to non-combatants, but it can be in exchange for allegiance or strategic information. When humanitarian aid is used as a weapon it can turn aid workers into targets, and leave people in need without help.

To raise awareness of the issue MSF produced a Facebook game: War in Scandinavia. The game was played by more than 30 000 people. As the first computer game in Scandinavia designed to create public opinion around a political issue it created huge media buzz. Swedish daily broadsheet Dagens Nyheter wrote a feature on the game, and it became the subject of an essay from Stockholm University.

Creatives: Fredrik Forsling and Gottfried Gemzell
Graphic design: Joakim Norman
Facebook app illustrations: Magnus Jonasson
Facebook app producer: Bombay Works
Images: © Special Branding Projects and Magnus Jonasson