Using Games to Teach Children Peace & Tolerance | Tsahi Liberman
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Delivered at Casual Connect Europe 2016 Peace, the final frontier. For many, it’s a notion they haven’t known before. What if we could change our children’s lives through education using digital games, and teach them, from early childhood, about peace and tolerance towards each other? In my talk, we will dream in pixels a colorful journey through various conflict zones and their peace based games, searching for a formula for a better world.
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Using Games to Teach Children Peace & Tolerance | Tsahi Liberman
- 1. Using Games to Teach Children About Peace & Tolerance Examples From Around the World Tsahi Liberman CEO, EduAds
- 2. Me Me ME! • Evangelist of Games used for Conflict Resolution • Game designer & developer for children learning games • Worked with BBC, Sesame Street, BabyFirstTV, Brainpop, Tabtale…. • Former director at GameIS, Israeli Digital Games Association • Current CEO at EduAds, an Educational and Fun Mobile Ads service
- 4. What is Peace for Kids? • When one does not bleed (Mexico) • My Mum (El Salvador) • Speaking Without Shouting (Argentina) • Writing Letter to the Police so they Arrest Those Who Mug Others (Argentina) • Avoid Saying Unpleasant Things (Peru) • That Nobody Dies (Colombia) • That Parents Should not Smoke or their Lungs Will Turn Black (Spain)
- 5. What are we fighting for?
- 7. In Knowledge there is Peace 2. Self Value & Respect 3. Awareness of Interconnectedness Base: Creativity & Critical thinking 4. Sense of Fairness & Justice 1. Appreciation of diversity
- 8. Games – Conflict Resolution
- 10. Cyprus Turkey
- 11. Russia Ukraine
- 13. Kenya Conflicts
- 14. N. Korea S. Korea N. Korea S. Korea
- 15. Syria Conflict
- 16. So – What did we have here? • Games that involve peace doesn’t have to be boring • To understand a conflict we have to understand all its perspectives • Its important to have “peace education” from an early childhood • Combine elements mentioned here for a great peace based game • Learn what other game developers are doing, don’t repeat mistakes! • Examine delicate issues in your game, make an impact! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryc_8PUiwWM
- 17. Live Long & Prosper! tsahi@eduads.tk
- 18. References & Further Reading • http://www.voanews.com/content/a-13-2009-09-21-voa37-68662662/408356.html • http://www.peacecorps.gov/kids/ • http://www.nbcnews.com/id/12423759/ns/technology_and_science-games/t/video-game-seeks-make-peace-not-war/#.Vmfd7PmGRBc • http://www.etc.cmu.edu/projects/peacemaker/Publications/Intetain05.pdf • http://tech.co/bandura-games-peace-via-games-2015-10 • http://mgiep.unesco.org/bluedot/video-games-for-peace-and-sustainability/ • http://www.lai.com/blog/?p=312 • http://coolschoolgame.com/GameWindow.html • https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/peace-lab-by-the-peace-factory#/ • http://www.comminit.com/governance-africa/content/sambaza-peace-game • http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-07/18/endgame-syria-leads-to-childrens-game • http://thekurdishproject.org/latest-news/us-kurdish-relations/kurdish-mobile-games-available-on-android/ • http://www.huffingtonpost.com/omar-sayfo/clash-of-syrian-clans-online-game-reflects-syrian-conflict_b_8913842.html • http://www.georgianjournal.ge/entertainment/30069-georgian-gaming-from-the-cradle-to-virtual-reality.html • http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/harrowing-ad-about-kids-war-puts-girl-center-first-person-shooter-166127 • http://www.democreativity.com/games • http://www.polygon.com/features/2013/7/3/4483276/kenya-games-industry • http://www.polygon.com/2015/3/30/8297515/africa-draft • http://www.inspireallchildren.com/our-approach/onetribe/
- 19. DRAFTS
- 20. Academic to Game Design • Reflection : Understand the meaning of player’s actions, its influence on others, reflecting on a different path that leads to another outcome • Assist : allow competitors to help each other, share knowledge and items, though in opposing teams. • Mix Co-Play : play together, in mixed teams with at least one player from each side of the conflict. • Perspective : allow switching “roles”, understand diversity & connection of self to others. • Sensitive : break delicate conflict issues into small missions and solve them, together. Painful, but helpful.
- 21. Translate into a Game – Ideas!
Editor's Notes
- Hi Everyone, and good to have you here. First a little bit about me. Im a great fan of games used for education and conflict resolution. Im in the game industry for the last 10 years, where I worked as a game designer and developer for the biggest educational games companies, like sesame street, Brainpop, BabyfirstTV and BBC. Up to this January I was one of the directors in the Israeli digital games association, which had the first Casual Connect in Tel Aviv last October! And finally, im currently the CEO of a new startup called EduAds, thriving to bring educational content to an ad-like service , in mobile games, for children.
- The definition for peace is tranquility, a state of no violence between communities. But for children, the perspective is a bit diverse. ( must say the last quote about smoking )
- We fight for so many reasons, whether its money, religion, ego, or a piece of land. And its all, essentially, starts with fear, Fear and Ownership.
- Fear, as master yoda has put it so precisely, is the path to the dark side, where we are angry, hateful and suffering. Feeling that, we need a fight, to be more powerful, rich, stronger than the other. That’s when we become Gollum. We want everything. And sadly, in war, most of the times, the solution we end up is , Exterminate. We only have one life in this game, so lets see how we can think on games made for peace, tolerance and conflict resolution.
- SO, as A'Tuin is carrying the Disc world on its back, it is the base for our game model. Our base consist out of creativity and Critical thinking. In Creativity, we are allowing children to imagine a new situation, try to create, build, storytelling, and games . Creativity, new and original behavior and/or ideas will be key in developing young children’s capacity for peace and should be fostered at this ripe creative age. Critical thinking-. If we want our children to be able to challenge world views and question current unfair practices, they must be taught to be critical in their thinking processes. If children are to be able to identify the problems in which to find creative solutions, they must be able to see the problems in the first place through a critical lens. Appreciation of Diversity : Before children can fully articulate perceived differences, they are aware differences such as skin color and gender. We need to help children develop a positive sense of self, help them establish a positive sense of their home or family culture. A feeling that one’s cultural experiences are appreciated and those experiences can contribute to the bigger community can help support a development of positive sense of self and others Sense of Fairness / Justice : As children experience conflict, differences in opinion, or find themselves having unmet wants and needs it is possible that they may become confused, angry, or resentful. We need to help a child express those feelings in a healthy manner and work toward understanding the outcome. Interconnectedness : If children are given the opportunity to see themselves as part of a whole in terms of solving conflict in a just and fair manner, children will begin to make sense of the inter-relationships between themselves and others. In order to truly work towards a just and peaceful society one must realize the relationships s/he has with others. Self Value & Respect: In order to help children develop the skills to build and maintain peaceful relationships and endeavors, we must recognize the importance of creating a positive self image built on love and respect for oneself. In learning to love and value oneself, self-worth can be recognized. In understanding one’s self-worth, one can believe they deserve a just and peaceful society therefore becoming capable of striving for it. If we are not to value and respect ourselves, than how can we envision the most just situation for ourselves and others?
- Lets see some examples, first three general conflict resolution games. On the left, we can see a game called “Pointless War” based on GameStar Mechanic platform, shows the absurd in war and its needless casualties. Fast paced. On the center, we can see a game called Quandary, you play a ship captain, which helps to examine different views and dealing with stigmas, through resolving different dilemmas. On the right, we can see RunZoo, by Bandura games, a game about collaboration between different animals. It’s a runner game where you play different animals, but you can help another player that is running at the moment, and send him a shield or other boosters.
- First, the Israeli – Palestinian conflict. Games for Peace is a non profit organization , that is using games such as Minecraft here, to bring both Israeli and Palestinian children together, playing and sharing their skills and thoughts, building expressions of their mutual co-existance. The in-game activities are backed by instructors online and are ended with a physical meeting of all participants. My comments on this solution is that it still lacks more physical meetings physically and in-game to understand and reflect on the process that been done here. Additionally, players are not really exposed or deal with sensitive subjects, just scratching the surface.
- Nicosia is calling is a web browser game trying to illustrate children the two sides of Cyprus, and the different but oh so similar lives on each. The game use puzzles, trivia questions, and before & after photos, to understand what was there before Cyprus was divided. This is a single player game, with no communication to other children, short in missions, but it tries, in small steps, to show and touch some delicate issues.
- The conflict Russia & Ukraine. This game is taking an interesting view on the conflict. It lets you pick a side, and try to demolish the other side. But as you play this quick game, you understand that each side is quite the same, and eventually, if you do win the game , you realize that you didn’t win at all. You still had casualties and had women and children fallen on the other side, yet to have just another battle.
- A game that challenges players to restore peace in a communal park and make all visitors get along, by understanding their interests and making wise decisions. We can see that after all, both Georgians and Ossetia's are the same people, with the same needs to have normal lives, and in the game we trying to understand both sides, finish missions that help us understand each family culture and interests, and keep visitors from each side happy and peaceful.
- Election Thief puts you in control of Omu, a peace-loving citizen who spots a thief running away with the election ballots. Omu gives a chase, and so begins a wild ride through 15 chapters of five levels each. You’re also treated to several delightful comic-book-style cutscenes that advance the story and contextualize the sometimes-bizarre platforming. Includes different quotes relating peace.
- Nanu Planet is the story of two space explorers who get separated on a planet split in two (“Nanu” is Korean for “divided”). Through a storybook-like journey, players explore the various areas of Nanu Planet while encountering different characters, puzzles, and adventures. Through a simple point and click interface, players guide Parchi on his quest to find his partner and love interest, Puchi. Despite the game’s beautiful visuals and cartoon-like characters, Nanu Planet touches upon the deep and somber historical roots of the separation of Korea into its North and South regions. Through metaphor and allegory, players learn about Korea’s past chapter by chapter. You can discover hidden journal entries that flesh out Nanu Planet’s story while in between chapter breaks provide a multitude of resources on Korea’s past – at the same time the game provides an area to speak to others about each chapter, opening up a dialogue around the entire experience. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvapWAExEmQ
- 1000 Days of Syria is a hard to play game, emotionally. It is a text based adventure, where you take the role of real characters, with real background. Its hard sometimes, especially when you read the hard to swallow descriptions of a way a family deals with the Syria war, and realize that your selections in action, will either bring you character to greater sadness or live to fight another day. You play the games through a mother of two living in Daraa, a rebel youth living in Aleppo or an American journalist based in Beirut. What elements are we seeing here? Sensitive, diversity, looking through different eyes. http://www.1000daysofsyria.com/
- First element is reflection. When children play the game, they should be able to understand in a meta level, what is the meaning of their actions. What if we could set back the time, to see how acting differently in the game would have changed the result, for better or worse? If we could talk to that NPC again, or help the other player In need before our two worlds collide, things would probably look very different.. Of course, communication is a key element here, whether between players or between player and characters in the game. Game log that details the player’s actions, and let him add comments. The second element is assistance. Even though we are in different groups, it doesn’t make us enemies. Let players be able to send or give other players helpful items. If the player is helping the other group, he can gain more coins. And since players can help anyone , not just the ones in their group, competition will be mixed with co-play. Share items, knowledge, in order to reach the games goal, together. Unlock secret levels by one child from different faction. The third element is mixed Mix Co-Play. Allow players from all conflict sides or ethnities, religion beliefs or culture to play together. If language is the barrier, players can communicate through set of iconic language, or preset short phrases. Let players feel they are all, eventually, the same, no matter skin color, belief or origin.. Co-play with a friend physically on same keyboard. The forth element is Perspective. What if a player can play the same plot or level as a different character, understand its culture, customs and way of thinking. Players should try to understand their influence on others in this world, that even their slightest decision or action, is changing so much more. Player will also be able to posses another player’s character for a short period of time and see what he see or do. Can also add a “debate house” which has in-game minigames, that you can select actions or different opinions expressed and see how you are convincing the audience. Texts can be pre-made so you will not need to write, just read and select. The fifth and last element is Sensitive. The game should touch sensitive issues that are in the base of the conflict. It should be broken up to small pieces of quests, that the children should play carefully. Delicate issues can be marked with a “tearing eye” icon, so the players will learn to understand there is a difficult subject ahead to deal with. Recommended dubbed and text to select from.
- Like in Braid, the player will be able to stop time and return to reflect on his mistake, and fix it. Small mistake can lead to a huge war! Let the player cycle through several characters, different in origin, culture and storyline. The player will be able to share items with other characters, even if from different or opposing faction. The game can include a log that document what the player had achieved, but the player can also add inside comments that indicate his reflection and view. Maintain the relationships the player has made with other , different culture based players, through as assisting app or in game communication dedicated area, so the friendships will be maintained . Playing one character will effect other characters and storylines you play. Our lives are not disconnected from others, every action has its own effect. Player will be able to build houses, like in Rift or Trove MMOrpgs. They will be able to decorate them, and invite guests inside, to show their own faction characteristic. For a short time, a player will be able to possess other players character and see him play, through its eyes. In this option, the player shows tolerance and listening abilities. The player will have a family in the game, that he has to maintain relationship with, by having dinner with and completing small “family” quests, to understand his culture even more. Add in-game cultural wise man Allow the player to understand stigmas, and see how one is created on himself. Try to investigate and falsify a stigma in game. Nurture trust. You have to have one enemy at least in your group