BY BRANDON BAKER
PhillyVoice Staff

Company donating coats to kids for 'good deeds' in game

A screenshot from the Wayne, Pa.- developed Facebook game, "A Better World."

Video games aren't all deathmatches and finish lines.

Wayne, Delaware County-based social enterprise A Better World is attempting to shake up the image of video games as strictly for entertainment by incentivizing players of its Facebook-based, life-simulator game to do good deeds -- both in-game and in the real world.

“What we do is cross the divide between this imaginary world by bringing in real world good deeds, getting people to report them," co-founder Raymond Hansell told PhillyVoice. "It's a virtual world game not unlike CityVille orFarmVille, the big differentiation being that instead of buying virtual cows and chickens and swapping them with your neighbors, in this virtual world what you’re doing is doing good deeds."

Here's how it works: Users report real-world good deeds that are voted up or down by other users, and "hopes, dreams and gratitudes" are expressed are tallied through the game's interface as virtual good deeds. Those good deeds can then be used as currency to shop for clothing and furniture; through Jan. 1, it's the only form of currency that will be accepted.

Read the full article here: PhillyVoice - Wayne-based social enterprise pushes gaming with a cause