Andrea,
You're at the cutting edge. There's been an emerging push in the gaming community to address issues such as child soldiers, displacement and disease prevention but to my knowledge nothing has substantively tried to tackle the issue of violence against women and girls. I see that the V Game is intended for young women and girls. What is the age range which you're seeking to target and what do you want them to take away from V Game?
Hi Jimmie - thanks for your comment. It is intended for young women and girls as the key target demographic, but young men and boys need this too and as such we want to include their needs, particularly as peers to young women who have experienced violence. Research shows that young women go to their peers for support when they experience violence and harassment - and that includes their friends who are young men. The age range is 12 to 25. What we want them to take away are warning signs of sexual assault, what it is (and the complexities of it), where and how they can access help if they don't feel comfortable going to police, and how they can support a friend (e.g. how to not blame the victim, how to deal with your own upsets and reactions hearing someone you love has been hurt). We want it to be both practical and supportive, something that speaks to youth of all backgrounds and identities (e.g. racialized youth, trans youth, youth with disabilities).
Hope it helps clarify this idea! We really believe it'll make a huge difference! :)
Hello Andrea, congratulations for the idea!I'm amazed how cell phones are everywhere and how big a part of people's lifes they're becoming. The last I heard, there were 180 million cell phones in use in Brasil (mind I say that our population is little over 190 million!). Since everyone, and specially adolescents and youth are using them for entertainment, why not bring much needed information to this media, right? Cheers, Daniel
I believe video games are the educational tools of the future, but would moms like to see her daughters playing a game about rape? Anyway, I think it's an excellent idea.
Thank you for your comment; you raise a good point. No parent wants to think about their children getting hurt (or hurting others) in that way, and I believe that's a reason why most parents have such a difficult time speaking to their children about rape. But our silence only makes the situation worse. The thing to remember about V Game is that mom, dad, teacher, etc. won't know about the youth playing it per se. This is something for youth to access themselves - an adult "broker" won't be there to say yes or no. This is of key importance, because statistics show that young women do not go to their parents or teachers or police to report getting sexually assaulted or raped. If anything, they go to their friends. Sometimes they don't go anywhere at all. So they need access to support in a safe, direct, and anonymous way, and V Game is one way to help them.
Sorry for being such a pain, but don’t you think it would be more effective (and inexpensive) to send every phone a message entitled something like “Sexual Abuse Help” with info, tips and contacts so the person could search for aid?
If you disagree, I would like to know how you imagine the gameplay mechanics and events within the game, so I could have a clearer idea of what you have in mind.
Don't take me wrong, my comments are to aid you to make your project better. I believe something along your lines to be effective.
I saw the other game you worked and got a better understanding of what you’re aiming for. Now I am a truly believer (although I still think that the phone message would be a useful tool too). Congratulations. You should win.
I think it would be wonderful to send that message out to all phones - it would be neat to try to partner with all cell service providers to do so. That would be amazing.
The issue I have with doing that alone, though, is that it misses out on some of the special learnings and iterative play games offer. I'm not sure about what the game play mechanics would be, given technological limitations of different kinds of phones, but even a simple simulation of how to support a friend would be, I believe, more engaging of an experience than a message. Of course, those numbers/contacts for support will have to be embedded in the game so people can access them when and if they need to.
I see the V Game as one tool of many tools that can be distributed to communities through mobile phones. It's a small pilot start that we hope will encourage innovation in how phones are used to reduce violence.
Guys,
I love the work on games for violence. We think employing popular means of engaging men (and women) is really important and underused. Here in Pune, we are using Cinema to engage men on domestic violence, but also the root cause: patriarchy, masculinity and sexuality.
Have you looked at Digital Media Leanring Labs and Game Changers from Macarthur? they would be interested in this work!
Best of luck, Will Muir
The Solar Cinema www.solarcinema.org http://www.changemakers.com/en-us/node/71488
Comments
Andrea,
You're at the cutting edge. There's been an emerging push in the gaming community to address issues such as child soldiers, displacement and disease prevention but to my knowledge nothing has substantively tried to tackle the issue of violence against women and girls. I see that the V Game is intended for young women and girls. What is the age range which you're seeking to target and what do you want them to take away from V Game?
Cheers,
Jimmie Briggs
Hi Jimmie - thanks for your comment. It is intended for young women and girls as the key target demographic, but young men and boys need this too and as such we want to include their needs, particularly as peers to young women who have experienced violence. Research shows that young women go to their peers for support when they experience violence and harassment - and that includes their friends who are young men. The age range is 12 to 25. What we want them to take away are warning signs of sexual assault, what it is (and the complexities of it), where and how they can access help if they don't feel comfortable going to police, and how they can support a friend (e.g. how to not blame the victim, how to deal with your own upsets and reactions hearing someone you love has been hurt). We want it to be both practical and supportive, something that speaks to youth of all backgrounds and identities (e.g. racialized youth, trans youth, youth with disabilities).
Hope it helps clarify this idea! We really believe it'll make a huge difference! :)
Hello Andrea, congratulations for the idea!I'm amazed how cell phones are everywhere and how big a part of people's lifes they're becoming. The last I heard, there were 180 million cell phones in use in Brasil (mind I say that our population is little over 190 million!). Since everyone, and specially adolescents and youth are using them for entertainment, why not bring much needed information to this media, right? Cheers, Daniel
Thank you for your encouraging words!
I believe video games are the educational tools of the future, but would moms like to see her daughters playing a game about rape? Anyway, I think it's an excellent idea.
Thank you for your comment; you raise a good point. No parent wants to think about their children getting hurt (or hurting others) in that way, and I believe that's a reason why most parents have such a difficult time speaking to their children about rape. But our silence only makes the situation worse. The thing to remember about V Game is that mom, dad, teacher, etc. won't know about the youth playing it per se. This is something for youth to access themselves - an adult "broker" won't be there to say yes or no. This is of key importance, because statistics show that young women do not go to their parents or teachers or police to report getting sexually assaulted or raped. If anything, they go to their friends. Sometimes they don't go anywhere at all. So they need access to support in a safe, direct, and anonymous way, and V Game is one way to help them.
Sorry for being such a pain, but don’t you think it would be more effective (and inexpensive) to send every phone a message entitled something like “Sexual Abuse Help” with info, tips and contacts so the person could search for aid?
If you disagree, I would like to know how you imagine the gameplay mechanics and events within the game, so I could have a clearer idea of what you have in mind.
Don't take me wrong, my comments are to aid you to make your project better. I believe something along your lines to be effective.
I saw the other game you worked and got a better understanding of what you’re aiming for. Now I am a truly believer (although I still think that the phone message would be a useful tool too). Congratulations. You should win.
I think it would be wonderful to send that message out to all phones - it would be neat to try to partner with all cell service providers to do so. That would be amazing.
The issue I have with doing that alone, though, is that it misses out on some of the special learnings and iterative play games offer. I'm not sure about what the game play mechanics would be, given technological limitations of different kinds of phones, but even a simple simulation of how to support a friend would be, I believe, more engaging of an experience than a message. Of course, those numbers/contacts for support will have to be embedded in the game so people can access them when and if they need to.
I see the V Game as one tool of many tools that can be distributed to communities through mobile phones. It's a small pilot start that we hope will encourage innovation in how phones are used to reduce violence.
Guys,
I love the work on games for violence. We think employing popular means of engaging men (and women) is really important and underused. Here in Pune, we are using Cinema to engage men on domestic violence, but also the root cause: patriarchy, masculinity and sexuality.
Have you looked at Digital Media Leanring Labs and Game Changers from Macarthur? they would be interested in this work!
Best of luck, Will Muir
The Solar Cinema
www.solarcinema.org
http://www.changemakers.com/en-us/node/71488