While it doesn’t make for a very good game by normal standards, there is much to be said about Molleindustria’s 8-bit interactive PSA, Phone Story.
Phone Story seeks to spread public awareness about the hazards and harms of the electronic consumer culture in first-world countries, portraying the slave-driven harvesting of raw materials, the suicide-inducing work environments in Chinese factories, and the environmentally destructive means of waste disposal, that all go into the making of a few of our favorite things, with the iPhone getting the spotlight. Profits from the sale of the game go to grassroots organizations aiming to stop corporate misbehavior. The minigames themselves are pretty crappy, but I don’t think that was the point of the game in the first place
Apple recently banned the controversial game from its App store, citing the following violations of its review guidelines:
15.2 Apps that depict violence or abuse of children will be rejected
16.1 Apps that present excessively objectionable or crude content will be rejected
21.1 Apps that include the ability to make donations to recognized charitable organizations must be free
21.2 The collection of donations must be done via a web site in Safari or an SMS
Molleindustria contested 21.1 and 21.2, arguing that the donation of profits from the game to other organizations is the action of the company and not a donation of the user, but they have yet to make any argument against the depictions of child abuse or objectionable content.
For anyone still wanting to play the game or contribute to Molleindustria’s cause, it is still available on the Android market.
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