Evaluation of Breakthrough's "ICED!" Video Game

Breakthrough, an international human rights organization, invited Education Development Center/Center for Children and Technology to complete an evaluation of “ICED! (I Can End Deportation),” a video game that teaches young people about the effects of American immigration and detention policies. The video game presents scenarios of five different immigrant teenagers and asks players to answer questions about immigration and deportation policies. The evaluation focuses on two measures of social impact: the extent that “ICED!” increases players’ knowledge about the U.S. immigration and detention policies and the extent to which players’ knowledge is influenced by the video game. The evaluation found that over half of players responded that playing the game changed their opinion of immigration and detention policies. The evaluators recommended that future games include questions that require application of information, instead of only asking “true/false” responses to questions. The evaluation of “ICED!” supports the role that video games can play in spreading awareness and influencing policy debates.