If you think the Harvest Moon series could benefit from a bit more death, misery, and an all-encompassing sense of hopelessness, then this 2005 student project from the IT University of Copenhagen is right up your alley.

3rd World Farmer challenges players to keep themselves and their families alive while managing a farm in poverty and conflict-stricken Africa. Make every dollar count as you plant your crops for the year and hope for a good harvest. If fortune smiles upon you, maybe you'll have earned enough money to buy a shovel but don't get too cocky, since the word "stability" isn't even in the dictionary where you live. Droughts can destroy your crops, disease can kill your livestock, civil wars can expose your farm to plundering from both sides, and falling market prices can render your goods worthless.
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Check out Wired News' coverage of A Force More Powerful. The political simulation has been created by U.S. developer Breakaway Games on behalf of the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict.

The strategy game sims Ghandi and the independence movement in post-World War II India, the American civil rights movement of the 1960's, and the struggle against former Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic. A scenario editor allows players to create hypothetical - or even real world - situations and explore nonviolent political solutions.

GP is well-acquainted with Maryland-based Breakaway Games, which is led by veteran game designer Doug Whatley. Before getting into the Serious Games movement, Breakaway created GP favorites ABC Monday Night Football and Waterloo: Napoleon's Last Battle.

If A Force More Powerful sounds interesting, you can download a video trailer at the Breakaway web site.