So, yesterday, toward the end of the day, I hear strange beeping and bomping noises coming out of Russell's office. My office is on the other side of the house as his and I can't see him from my desk. But, I can sure hear him. Many times, we like to yell back and forth. When one of us gets and idea, we tend to shout it across the floor, almost like we are scientists who have just come up with a new formula that will change the world.This, I can only assume, annoys anyone within ear shot. Because, most of the time I yell, "WHAT?" repeatedly until I have to get up, walk out of my office and talk to Russell face to face to find out what wonderful idea has sprung from his creative mind. These days it's Kate who has to suffer the brunt of our mountain top communication. But, she enjoys it, (don't you Kate) and most of the time has to translate, mid-way, the message to the recipient.
Well, yesterday Kate had already left for the day and Russell and I were alone in the office. He in his office. I in mine. When I heard the noises, I figured that he was possibly playing the Playstation we keep in the conference room. We keep it there to help us rejuvenate our forward thinking ways, ha. Sometimes staring at a computer screen can make your eyes go crossed, so we like to stare at computer game images on a television instead. Make sense?Anyway, I called to Russell and asked him what he was doing. No answer. So, I called again. Still no answer. But, the beeping and the bomping kept coming. Now, it was accompanied by sounds from Russell. "Aw..." "Oh yeah." "Whoops." "Uh Oh." started to echo in the emptiness of the first floor on Manly Street. Well, now my interest was up. So, I walked out and saw Russell intently working on something on his computer. He looked up and said, "Man, this is cool. You gotta try....", but his sentence faded out as he went back to the thing on his screen.
Eventually, he stopped and told me about this article he read that talked about kids designing online games with Game Lab, a NYC-based game development company. Students at South Shore High School developed Ayiti: The Cost of Life , detailing a family, living in Haiti, struggling with poverty. You live as this family for 4 years and have make choices as to where you work, how you work, whether your children go to school, how many go to school, what to do when someone gets sick, etc. You are also faced with challenges like Hurricane Season and Dry Season. My family made it to Year 4 when I lost the son to Cholera and the father to Diphtheria. Once the father was gone, the game was over. The oldest daughter could not care for her younger sister alone. Especially, when she was so sick from working as a Rum Distiller for so long, just to help feed her family.
Other games have been developed by other teens, including Hurricane Katrina: Tempest in Crescent City and Starlight Starbright's Asthma Game. So far, these games have been played more than 1.5 million times since their launch.
So, if you have some time, check these sites out. It's nice to see games out there that teach us something. That help us learn a bit about our surroundings and put some perspective on the trials and tribulations that others may go through. Get online in your spare time and play. Or, just come over to Manly Street and hang out with me, Kate and Russell. One of us will probably be playing at some point.
To check out article in The NonProfit Times, go to http://www.nptimes.com/ and look for "Building vs. Blowing Up. Games aimed to change kids' idea of nonprofits."
And, check out these websites:
Ayiti: the Cost of Life
Hurrican Katrina
Starlight Starbright Asthma Game
Games for Change
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1 comment:
Thanks Brock. Glad you like the games.
Barry Joseph
Global Kids
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