"There's more to the game than just playing soccer..."

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We are excited to share with you a news clip about BREAKAWAY, produced by Channel One News.  Channel One is the leading television news network for teens nationwide. Their mission is to "inform, educate and inspire by making news relevant and engaging for young people and sparking discussion around the important issues impacting youth today."


Chapter 2 of BREAKAWAY is now live!  Don't worry, if you haven't played Chapter 1 yet, you'll play that first so you don't miss any of the story.  Head on over and see what all the buzz is about!


(This post also cross-posted at the Emergent Media Center blog.)

What is a Champion?

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The Breakaway game is counting down to release the game with the FIFA World Cup this June. In a circular world, everything seems to return round again. When we began researching the problem of violence against women, and attitudes and behaviors of youth, we began in Cape Town, South Africa. It was a world that had both 1st and 3rd world economies and an overwhelmingly negative statistics in regards to violence against women and girls. We had no idea then that the game would be a soccer/football game in time for the World Cup in South Africa or that it would be for 8-15 year old boys.

Likewise when we began the project we were a small group with a lot of doubters. How could a game prevent violence against women and why?

Many have a difficult time even speaking about the issue of violence against women. The issue gets caught up in thinking that sees it as a private family matter or a cultural issue that others should not interfere with. Even where we are today, in modern Italy, it is legal for a husband to lose his temper and murder his wife in a "crime of passion". And what of honor killings in which a man or his family burn the wife for reasons as anti-passionate as the size of a dowry, or lack of a male heir? Dare one speak out against that? What would the victim ask? Is death at the hands of another not a crime?

Others associate violence against women and girls as a "women's issue" bound up in anti-feminism rhetoric. What about the effects on the children of an abused partner or girls who are sold into sexual slavery at ages as young as 8 or 9, or the female babies and toddlers denied health care because of their sex at birth? Is that not a family issue—a human rights issue—a moral issue?

And how might a game address the problem? At first I even had to think long and hard before writing the first proposal to the United Nations. How would one utilize a medium accused of being violent and apply it towards anti-violence? By uniting game-play mechanics, reward systems, narrative, and fun in the right mix. Games can be powerful learning tools. They encourage reflective thinking and critical problem solving. If experienced at a crucial age, they can inspire new ways of seeing choices and consequences of decisions. I also firmly believe that if anyone can create a concept to engage boys, it is youth—our Champlain students who have academic experience in the medium, but who also enjoy, play and analyze it.

With progress towards our goals, believers...champions have come to our side from the most unlikely places. First Senator Patrick Leahy lent his support of the project and the team's ability to complete it. He stated that when he first started his career as State's Attorney he started prosecuting for domestic violence. When told "that isn't how we do things around here." He replied "well there's a new sheriff in town and now we do!".

Other supporters came to our aid when funding was in limbo last summer. Among them Laura Dagan and her employer Dwight Asset Management, our partner Population Media Center through their president Bill Ryerson, and many other individuals gifting as little as $1.00 or as much as $10,000. Without their generosity and pledges totaling $52,000 the project would have ended without reaching its goals.

Well this week we have new champions! And I must admit my mind is still reeling. Part of our team is in Milan, Italy videotaping for the game trailers, other PSA's, and a new character in our game. We are here because we brainstormed with game pros in Montreal, Canada and JDK in Burlington, Vermont. Then we took the concept and presented to the UN. Through them Aminata Toure, gender expert at the UNFPA, and Enzo di Taranto, director of the UNiTE to End Violence Against Women, campaign connected to the Spokesperson to the President of the General Assembly of the UN, Jean-Victor Nkolo.

He connected to his countryman, international soccer/football star Samuel Eto'o. This week Samuel Eto'o pledged to give his all to support the project and the cause. We just spent two days working with him. What an incredible role-model for boys, youth, men around the world.

Senator Patrick Leahy, Bill Ryerson, Laura Dagan, Aminata Toure, Enzo di Taranto, Jean-Victor Nkolo, and Samuel Eto'o are all successful people whom others look to as leaders in their fields. They are all champions working to end violence against women. If more spoke out like these there would be no need for our project. From a project that few believed possible to one with such support!

In less than a month we release the first chapter of Breakaway to coincide with the World Cup 2010. We will have 5 more chapters to release through until December 2010—for these we are seeking corporate sponsorship and appreciate individual and foundational gifts. You can be a champion as well—we are looking for volunteers to translate scripts for us into other languages, to test the game, find bugs, give feedback, and for help getting the word out. Our game site is at http://www.breakawaygame.com/ , Facebook Fan page at http://www.facebook.com/breakawaygame, and the project page for info and donations at ttp://emergentmediacenter.com/unvaw/index.html .

As one of our champions, you can be a part of enabling youth worldwide to be able to explore and discover for themselves how to truly be a champion.

Job Openings on Empowering Play Project

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Join our team!  The Emergent Media Center is hiring for late Spring/Summer 2010 positions on the UNFPA/Empowering Play project.  You MUST be a Champlain College student in order to apply.

Click HERE for a listing of open positions.

Hurry!  Resume, cover letter, and deliverables (if required) are due by Friday, April 16th!

Out of the Storm and Into a New View of the World

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Airports are a mass of humanity. Most of them are stressed out. I’m in the Reagan International Airport. I am stuck here because my flight was OVERBOOKED!!!!! UGH!!!!!!! I have grown to dislike immensely airports and flying.

My flight into DC was stressful. I flew out in the middle of a snowstorm that had finally hit Vermont. Of course prior I had been wishing for the snow that seemed to be going elsewhere all winter. I love skiing (and would prefer to be doing so this weekend but like I said I am stuck in an airport).

On Wednesday when I flew out, it was a true blizzard with everything—roads, ground, horizon, air—pure white. As we climbed higher and higher after takeoff the plane tossed and turned more violently with every gain in altitude. And when it reached its worse—and my prayers and thoughts of loved ones most fervent—it broke. And what I viewed was what I had as a small child imagined heaven was: the sunset expansive over hundreds of miles of blue clouds!

Here I am again awaiting a flight into a storm, however reflecting on the light beyond the clouds, I recognize that this week has resulted in a fairly productive series of events; the potential formation of a SIG for the IEEE Computer Society for those with interest in games; on-the-ground international support for our ground-breaking game to end violence against women; and this article in the Chronicle for Higher Ed: http://chronicle.com/blogPost/In-Development-at-Champlain/21474/

Results. We are driven in this current society for short-term results. No waiting. Instant rewards. More, more, more. Let me have it NOW! Hence the stress, the rudeness, the inhumanity of an airport. But have you ever looked at the babies and small children? People smile when they see them, and as I heard one woman say this morning deep in the security line “I’ll hold her for you!” Children seem to bring us back to our humanity. They are long–term.

It is for those babies that I am here in this airport giving up yet another weekend with those I love deepest.

Our Champlain students and EMC faculty and staff, guided by experts in change, have discovered the means that can make the world a less violent, more economically stable place for our children and youth to grow into. Seems like an awfully BIG promise doesn’t it? Perhaps but its a promise backed up by a solid plan.

Our solution is grounded in proven behavior theory, designed to engage boys at a pivotal age, enable them to see beyond immediate culture conditioning. It allows them to practice key behaviors to discover the rewards of positive behavior and uncover the imprisonments of negative behavior. The project is being linked to on-the-ground structures that can support individual choice for change. And it is to be launched by an international star who provides an inspirational role model.

Yes, I can see a world achievable within my lifetime where the status quo is one of peace and prosperity. One where nine year old girls are not sold or abducted for trade as sex slaves as described in “Half the Sky” or their mothers are not violently “disciplined” by their fathers (as we learned in Africa); a world in which engaging babies can grow up to be equal partners working side-by-side towards a positive future for their babies and for us all. A world in balance.

However here we are again, awaiting launch with delays impeding takeoff. We have funding that will get us to the launch of the game but for full impact we need but two more months of funding.

Can you see the peace achievable beyond the storm? Would you like to help us get above the clouds? Become a part of this project that can turn the tides on a world-view that allows baby girls, pre-teens, their sisters and their mothers to become victims of sex trafficking, maternal mortality and violence against women. Become a game-changer.

One last post from Saint Lucia

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Check out a collection of photos from our experience at the EMC blog: http://emergentmediacenter.blogspot.com/2009/12/looking-back-from-home.html

Poverty in Paradise

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We are in the airport in Saint Lucia. We've been here awhile. Our flight is delayed from New York. We are assuming it is on the US side as it is beautiful weather here - as it seems almost always to be. So families and friends you may expect that we might not be in tonight. They expect us not to leave for two hours after our scheduled departure. This means our layover in NYC is very tight.

We've just spent a luscious day and a half in beautiful Saint Lucia. We explored the beaches, the sun, the shopping! The students finalized their Christmas shopping, explored, and did some saltwater swimming at the beach in Rodney Bay. Wendi, Ray, Jim and I were able to explore the national park at Pigeon Island. All of us were able to see some of the weddings the island is known for.

Away from our work, we saw the island more the way a traditional tourist would. We explored the darker side of the touristic events with a street party at Gros Islet - where stray dogs begged and then fought over plates of street food and poorer residents tried over and over to sell us braided palm and beads for much too much money.

However we also saw the beauty of a very fine restaurant and hotel with a pool that seemed more at place in Disney World. We strolled lovely beaches and met other tourists from around the world. The salt water and sunny skies called us to pull up stakes and relocate to Saint Lucia. And we began to understand and appreciate the pace of life here as a T-shirt Jim found that stated "Live Slow, Saint Lucia".

The striking thing is the paradox of poverty in paradise: the beauty of the surroundings and the beaten up nature of the living conditions. One thing I do know for sure, the people here are confident, polite, friendly, complex, and in charge of their destinies.

To see more of the contrasting images please visit our Emergent Media Center Facebook page and look through our photo albums.

Heart of a Culture

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Part of the wonder of this project is being able to visit the heart of a culture – their children. It still amazes me how we've gotten to understand and know the children of this island within the context of their school lives. In a school one also sees how a community cares and teaches its children the knowledge it wishes to impart. Much like our visit to Africa, we are discovering the children here to be curious, affectionate, and open to us. In these communities, though also in poverty, there is an even greater knowledge of technology and how to use it. The schools however still do not seem to possess much. We find that the children may or may not know how to read.

Today we are compiling all our findings and I thought that it would be good to share some of my observations on the localities in which we ran the game tests.

Dennery: When we arrived in at the school in Dennery, we drove into a large empty parking lot to a series of low buildings that were had U shaped courtyards. Water faucets were outdoors (as we discovered they were at all the schools). There were two sports fields behind the buildings. One had a chain link fence surrounding it and a cricket match was in play. Despite 80 degree heat the players were in full uniform similar to old-fashioned baseball uniforms from around the turn of the century on the US. The field without the fence was the soccer/football field. Dogs and goats wandered freely in the parking lot and sat under the eves for shade.

The children were selected by the physical education teacher/coach. They all were football enthusiasts. As we were let into the classrooms the children were lined up outside the building sitting on a ledge. The classrooms were a bit ragged with open concrete grid work for ventilation.

The desks were an assemblage of wooden hand made child sized picnic tables or desks made of wood similar to the desks in our game but no metal legs. One classroom in particular was very gaily painted with primary colors and messages and objects upon the walls – it was their music room. Later we discovered that it was done by our PMC coordinator Alleyne’s wife.

Vieux Fort: After along drive through narrow twisting roads where cars passed –but just barely we arrived in Vieux Fort some children were waiting for us. Wendi logged the children in as rooms were opened up for us to test in. Each group of testers got a single classroom. The classrooms were like an arrow pointing to the highway (widest in Saint Lucia that we encountered) and were loud due to the proximately to the highway especially that classroom nearest the road (about 40 feet from the road).

Here horses walked freely along the roadside along with short versions of tractor-trailers and cars. The schoolyard was set up in a U shape with a high fence solid all around. The courtyard was paved with blacktop and exposed fully to the sun. Behind it was the technical school and playing fields. These classrooms seemed even poorer than those in Dennery with broken furniture, floor tiles, and water on the classroom seats from rain coming through the ceiling. Again it was open grid work ventilation. The desks were like those in our game for the most part. The chalkboards were dark green and light green some that could hardly take chalk anymore. Some signs were on the walls that contain motivational phrases, some information posters but not many.

Soufriere: Soufriere seemed to be geographically more remote. It is on the Caribbean coastline and to get to it, one drives a very rugged coastline through some very poor looking coastal towns. The town itself, though it is a tourist destination for the cruise ships is ramshackle and looks glued together. There is a coconut oil processing plant across from the school. It seems to be falling apart but has recently gotten a government grant to be updated. It used to employ about 300 workers and now has about 50.

When we arrived at Soufriere we drove into a school that had a classroom facilities and architecture much like those we had seen before but it was in one of the most spectacular settings with the Pitons rising above the school courtyard. The fenced in school and courtyard were off the road with large trees in the courtyard. It was colorful and looked inviting.

However we were not to do the testing in the classrooms. Instead there was a long building that housed the teacher resource room. It was air-conditioned and full of many sorts of learning materials: posters, manipulatives, and even books! This meant again that we would share the testing space. Two groups were in one room with conference like furniture. The other three were in a classroom like setting more familiar to American eyes with tables and chairs sized to groups of children.

However there was confusion when we arrived due to miscommunication. The person who had arranged to host us was an official of the football association and a local coach. They thought an American Football Team was coming to play against their team! There was a large football stadium behind the school complex. It had the largest playing field in Saint Lucia until they recently build the stadium for it. The stadium had multiple tiers of seats, an announcer room and a roof. It was full of mothers and children who had expected the American team. There was a young boy with a crowd of other young boys around him avidly playing upon his Nintendo DS.

A football match was live in session between two towns in the field. These children were our test subjects.

The coach could not pull the young people form their match which had two more hours to go. So after much negotiation and flexible thinking we were able to round up a group first of ten – then twenty children! We only needed ten children for the best results. They fell nicely within the demographics for our game. We split the group into two under a large tree in front of the Teachers’ Resource building. Wendi and I took half of the group of eight ranging in age from nine to thirteen and sat outside asking the marketing questions. A big takeaway for me was that they accessed the web both on the computer and through mobile. Often this was through the use of relatives’ hardware. They all played games – especially anything to do with football/soccer. And many used Facebook and some played Farmville. Another ah ha was that they have a girl on their football team much like in our game concept. Luckily she was one of the children being tested in the building by our Champlain team. She was the football coach’s niece.

The lack of ability to read should not be surprising. Much like in Africa, in general the classrooms here do not contain much. There is a definite lack of reading materials available in the schools. No books and yet the children manage to access the web through mobile and computer. Truly if information could be delivered in an engaging way (what is more engaging to a child than play and games) through the internet, we could educate a world – and in doing so compound the human capital and end poverty and much more besides. So do I believe in educational games? This trip only reinforces my belief. Do I think the entertainment world will rise to the question? Not yet. Do I think we are working towards solutions and that this process will deliver on this? Sure do.

Close-up photo of young boy in red shirt by Mollie Coons during our tests.