“Materialism
doesn’t make you happy, but compassion does.”
That’s a tall order to teach children between the ages of 6
and 12.
Trip Hawkins, founder of Electronic Arts and now head of If
You Can, gave a speech at DICE today emphasizing the educational potential of
video games. He highlights the perceived propensity for games to steer children’s
attention away from education and into exercises of repetition and
memorization. While many games today explore domains beyond the concrete
concept of game mechanics to address more ideas, themes, and even controversial
topics, games that are typically tailored to this demographic tend to fit a
very traditional formula.
Of course Minecraft and games of the like are glaring
exceptions to the rule, however Hawkins is looking to educate children on
something far removed from basic engineering and physics puzzle solving, he’s
looking to address emotional intelligence.
If You Can’s cleverly named “IF…” is set to be an iOS title,
known to launch on iPad at this time, and will be a story driven sim/RPG built
around the concept of emotional awareness of others. This idea on its own,
particularly when looking at its target audience, is one that could have easily
been pitched as Mass Effect without the combat. But the gap that sits next to
the element of emotional attention is filled with appropriate game systems.
Players will be constantly confronted with scenarios that
emulate different dimensions of emotional awareness, some of which discuss
bullying, an appropriate topic for the age range. One specific encounter will present
players with a Standford’s ZimbardoPrison Test dilemma where the contrasting tribes of the game – cats and
dogs – are set in prisoner and prison guard like roles. Much like the prison
test, the scenario is meant to educate the concept of empathy.
Along with having Animal Crossing like interactions and
mission design in between, players can also befriend Vims, characters that
withhold mystical energy, and build healthy enough relationships with them to
the point where their services become available, much like Pokemon training.
IF… is a game with significant expert consultation as well.
Hawkins went to the lengths of collaborating with field experts including Janice
Toben, responsible for the Institute of Social and Emotional Learning, Roger
Weissberg, CEO of CASEL.org, Marc Brackett and Robin Stern from the Yale Center
of Emotional Intelligence, and Fred Luskin of Learning to Forgive.
“Cyberbullying is
growing. It’s driving youths to commit suicide. If you happen to be a bully,
the redemption of a bully is something you can learn. Both victims and bullies
can play a game like this. I don’t think being a bully makes a bully happy.
With tragedies like the shooting in Newtown, Conn., there was
alienation in both directions. Students were alienated from a boy, who
then felt like an outsider” Hawkins says.
But even with all the consultation, Hawkins is aware that
educational software has limited effective capacity outside of basic emotional
education. He sees this as a complimentary component of positive social influences
such as family and mentorship.
I see this as a critical project; one that is rarely
explored for such an audience. Children at this age are more absorbent to being
coached proper interactions with others. It’s crucial for children between the
ages of 6 and 12 to be exposed to a game like this; creeping up to the stages
of adolescents would be less effective as teens are more concerned with their
social standing, and are less responsive to social fundamentals.
Trip Hawkins looks to bring a new form of educational
gaming, a new era existing past the days of Math Blaster. If you have children
this young, see to it that they’re exposed to “IF…”; if not for your child,
then for the betterment of the industry’s growth.
Source: Venturebeat
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