iThrive Sim

AN AWARD-WINNING GAME ENGINE FOR PLAYFUL SEL

The work of adolescence is social and emotional as teens actively seek and experience more social engagement, novelty, and creative exploration. iThrive Sim is a game engine that builds, powers, and assesses playful and interactive learning experiences that meet them where they are developmentally, supporting them with engaging social and emotional skill-building experiences.

iThrive Sim launched in 2020 as a virtual classroom-optimized tool that created engaging spaces for teen collaborative learning and play in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, a time marked by unprecedented challenges and a need for creative solutions. Since then, it has gone on to support games and inquiry-based learning experiences that have reached thousands of teens and high school students worldwide.

iThrive Sim powers single-player and multiplayer games that enhance learning through interactive opportunities for self-regulation, peer connection, and real-world application.

On the backend, its dynamic authoring tool and content management system allow for the creation of content-rich digital learning experiences, tailored to each game's audience—whether by reading level, learning modality, or language preference. On the front end, iThrive Sim's synchronous and asynchronous delivery systems challenge players with unique stressors and individualized information, driving real-time decisions that shape how each game unfolds.

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iThrive Sim's library of role-playing games uniquely respond to teens' developmental needs by helping them reach enduring social, emotional, and academic understandings. Teens are uniquely wired for learning. Studies show that as their brains develop, connecting them to experiences where they can explore, name, and work in their genius supports their thriving. iThrive Sim is a lever for these inquiry-based, interactive experiences.

Since launching, thousands of young people have played an iThrive Sim game. They've compromised, negotiated, and collaborated meaningfully with peers to work through complex crises and 'wicked' challenges. Players' feedback reveals that iThrive Sim's interactive experiences help foster consideration of self and others, knowledge development, and social and emotional skill growth. Three in every four young people who've played an iThrive Sim game say they'd recommend it to a friend.

SEE ITHRIVE SIM'S MULTIPLAYER GAMEPLAY IN ACTION:

ITHRIVE SIM WAS DESIGNED WITH AND FOR TEENS THROUGH THE COLLABORATION AND FUNDING OF PEOPLE WHO ARE DEEPLY COMMITTED TO ADVANCING TEEN LEARNING.

SERVICES:

Educational Technology Design, UX Research

FUNDERS:

DN Batten Foundation, National Endowment for Humanities (CARES Grant)

COLLABORATORS:

Affordance Studio, EdTech Recharge

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LEAD PIONEERING TEEN RESEARCH WITH ITHRIVE SIM!

The iThrive Games team invites researchers to enlist iThrive Sim in their work with, for, and about teens. Connect with us and tell us about your project to learn how the award-winning game engine can support your youth-centered research with a playful method that lives at the intersection of play and cognition.

CONDUCT RESEARCH WITH ITHRIVE SIM

EXPLORE THE SIMULATION GAMES BUILT WITH ITHRIVE SIM:

Since the launch of iThrive Sim in 2020, government agencies like the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), nonprofit organizations, and researchers have enlisted the iThrive Games team and iThrive Sim tool to create one-of-a-kind games, free-to-play across in-person and virtual settings, and locations (schools, museums, and community spaces).

Disaster Mind, designed with FEMA, is a single-player simulation game that supports young people's disaster readiness, preparedness, and growth mindset.

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Currently in production is a single-player simulation game game developed with the Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism at the Middlebury Institute for International Studies that places young people in an interactive story of online fandoms where they learn how to recognize and resist radicalization and violent extremism and practice how to be an empowered bystander.

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Global Climate Negotiations, designed with High Resolves, is a multiplayer simulation game that invites them to work to reduce global emissions while reducing the cost of carbon credits to the countries they represent as ambassadors.

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Lives in Balance is a multiplayer simulation game that invites high school students to act as government officials who must make individual and group decisions during a fictional pandemic. Lives in Balance is a part of iThrive Sim's core library of free-to-play civic learning games designed for high school classrooms.

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Leading Through Crisis is a multiplayer simulation game that places high school students in the role of a government official navigating domestic and international crises who must collaborate and use data, primary source documents, and problem-solving skills to chart a path forward. Leading Through Crisis is a part of iThrive Sim's core library of free-to-play civic learning games designed for high school classrooms.

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Follow the Facts is a media literacy skill-building multiplayer simulation game that invites high school students to step into a role as a journalist or news editor tasked with digging deep to find credible sources and collaborate with their peers to break the story with accuracy and without bias. Follow the Facts is a part of iThrive Sim's core library of free-to-play civic learning games designed for high school classrooms.

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Selling Dreams, designed with SEED Institute, is single-player simulation game developed by young people that invites youth-serving professionals to take on the role of 'Guardian,' a caseworker tasked with meeting the needs of the young people they encounter and helping them through their unique challenges, building trust and rapport as they do so.

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