Ann DeMarle, Professor, Director of the Emergent Media Ctr. | Champlain College BREAKAWAY: Combating Gender-based Violence through Student Created Games Attendees will learn: how to structure partnerships with higher education; how the Sabido methodology and character archetypes were employed to a mobile format; how the mobile touch interface changed the mini-game mechanics; key lessons learned for development continuity across several college semesters and shifts in team personnel; and how student engagement and learning are crucial parts of a successful development process. This is the story of how we persevered and adapted the game with a message ever more relevant in the era of #MeToo. FORMAT TALK / DEMO: In 2010, college students at the Emergent Media Center (EMC) at Champlain College partnered with the United Nations Population Fund to create BREAKAWAY, an online game addressing gender-based violence. Research conducted in a series of facilitated youth camp models in Palestine and El Salvador from 2012-2014 highlighted its effectiveness at producing positive change in youth participants. The game was a finalist in the 2016 Womanity Award for the Prevention of Violence Against Women. In 2016, students recognized the need to reach wider audiences and address changing play and game technologies. Thus began development of BREAKAWAY: mobile, completed in 2018. It recently was employed in migrant camps in Rwanda. Like the original, it is a soccer-themed game that addresses VAWG by encouraging reflection, positive attitudes, and behavior change in youth. This presentation will include a brief demo of the game. It will examine the challenges of student led development for international audiences including: maintaining the integrity and impact of the original online version while updating and adapting it to a mobile format; opportunities for streamlining the narrative for a new generation; improving mini-game play; emboldening student experience; and how to partner with academia. Presented by the Serious Play Conference seriousplayconf.com Orlando, University of Central Florida, UCF, July 24-26, 2019, Montreal, Canada, Quebec, UNIVERSITÉ DU QUÉBEC À MONTRÉAL, UNIVERSITY OF QUEBEC IN MONTREAL, July 10-12, 2019

1. Ann DeMarle
Professor Emeritus
Champlain College Emergent Media Center
demarle@champlain.edu, @anndemarle
I F W E A R E T O T E A C H R E A L P E A C E I N T H I S W O R L D , A N D I F W E
A R E T O C A R RY O N A R E A L WA R A G A I N S T WA R ,
W E S H A L L H AV E T O B E G I N W I T H T H E C H I L D R E N .
- M A H AT M A G H A N D I
“
Combating Gender-based Violence
through Student Created Games
“
www.breakawaygame.com,
http://breakawaygame.champlain.edu,
@breakawaygame

2. Ann DeMarle, Who’s She?
• Teacher, artist, geek, activist
• Professor emeritus, Champlain College
• Founding director Champlain College Top ranked game degrees
• Founding director Emergent Media Center
• Founding director Governor’s Institute of Vermont in Technology
• Apple Distinguished Educator
• IBM Faculty Awardee
• Images & Voices of Hope trustee
• IEEE Computer Society Governor
• VT Arts Council trustee

3. Outline
1. What is BREAKAWAY?
2. Student Development Teams
3. Game & Narrative System: from
Flash to Mobile
4. Research Results

4. https://vimeo.com/146825593

5. • Addresses VAWG: original sponsor UNFPA
• Innovative game:
• Pivotal developmental ages
• First to apply Sabido methodology
• Community-led youth camps adopted by UNDP,
UNICEF, Save the Children
What makes BREAKAWAY unique
W H AT I T I S

6. 1. Awareness of the issue
2. Accountability for actions
3. Attitude & behavior change
4. Advocacy
Shift Boy’s Behavior
Empower Girls
W H AT I T I S

7. W H AT I T I S
Initial Online Version Production:
● Project Start 2008
● Launched 13 episodes online/CD 2010
Educational Model:
● Facilitator’s Guide 2011
● Hebron, Palestine camp 2012
● El Salvador camp 2013, 2014
● Buffalo camp 2016
Assessment & Research:
● First assessment 2014
● Second assessment 2015
● Third assessment 2017
Second Production:
● Mobile 2017/18
● Mahama camps, Rwanda 2019
Timeline

8. “
Student Development Teams
An academic studio partnering with
industry, public institutions & nonprofits
to develop new concepts, processes,
uses & applications for games & other
forms of emergent media.

9. Roots
“Top US College” —Atlantic Monthly
“Most Innovative College in the North East” —U.S. News & World Report
2005 Roger Perry Endowed Chair:
Champlain College’s nationally ranked
Game degree programs,
in the top 15 for over 14 years.
S T U D E N T D E V T E A M S

10. EMC Formats
• Mobile apps
• Serious games & curriculum
• Gamification strategies
• Social media campaigns
• Video
• Static & motion graphics
• Big data visualization
• Large screen interactives
• Alternative computer controllers
• Virtual and augmented realities
Conceptualization
Prototyping
Production
S T U D E N T D E V T E A M S

11. • Students: creativity, digital natives,
cross-disciplinary teams guided by
faculty & staff
•Interdisciplinary Emergent Media
design & production
•Collaborative design cycle,
prioritizing iteration
•Designing in-person & online
experiences
EMC ProcessS T U D E N T D E V T E A M S

12. ● Grants & fundraising: continual
● Online & CD game:
● Researching the question
● Discovery phase: South Africa
● Conceptualization: 2 designs
● Early prototype
● Build & testing: 13 chapters/levels
● Marketing & launch
● Learning Model:
● Facilitators’ Guide
● Youth camps
● Research & Assessment
● Mobile game and guide:
● Fundraising
● Mobile build
● Testing & launch
● Facilitator’s guide
● Rwanda - translation & support
Project PhasesS T U D E N T D E V T E A M S
“If your boyfriend beats you, he loves you best.”
- 13 year old girl, South Africa interviews, 2009

13. Early Game TrailerS T U D E N T D E V T E A M S

14. S T U D E N T D E V T E A M S Mobile Game Update
https://vimeo.com/245984705

15. P L AY I S O F T E N TA L K E D A B O U T A S I F I T W E R E A R E L I E F F R O M
S E R I O U S L E A R N I N G . B U T F O R C H I L D R E N P L AY I S S E R I O U S
L E A R N I N G . P L AY I S R E A L LY T H E W O R K O F C H I L D H O O D .
- F R E D R O D G E R S
“
“
Game & Narrative System:
Flash to Mobile

16. First Key: SoccerG A M E & N A R R AT I V E S Y S T E M

17. Second Key: Sabido Method
• Jungian archetypes
• Bandura’s social cognitive theory
Role Modeling:
• Positive
• Negative
• Transitional
Storytelling:
• Narrative 70/30 rule
• Serial style with cliffhangers
Entertainment-Education
Mobile Challenge: no longer partnering with PMC, guidance comes from faculty & staff
G A M E & N A R R AT I V E S Y S T E M

18. • Identify with characters
• Role-play real life situations
• Active decision making=critical thinking
• Experience clear cause & effect
• Cycle of mastery
• Reflection & storytelling
Experiential Learning
Third Key: Video GameG A M E & N A R R AT I V E S Y S T E M

19. What does it take to become a champion?
Third Key: Video GameG A M E & N A R R AT I V E S Y S T E M

20. Sabido Role modeling in
• Player: Transitional
• Team Captain Tal: Negative
• Star Player Zak: Positive
• Female characters: Neutral
• Supporting teammates determined by affiliation
• Samuel Eto: Positive (original version, removed from
mobile)
Third Key: Video Game
Mobile Challenge: found characters needed to be
updated to today’s cultural attitudes & prevalence
of online bullying
G A M E & N A R R AT I V E S Y S T E M

21. “...characterized by pervasive instability in
moods, interpersonal relationships, self-image,
and behavior. This instability often disrupts
family and work life, long-term planning, and
the individual's sense of self-identity.”
Tal—Captain: Borderline Personality Disorder
“Borderline Personality Disorder.” National Institutes of Mental Health. 13 May 2009. 25 March 2010.
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/borderline-personality-disorder-fact-sheet/index.shtml
Third Key: Video Game
Mobile Challenge: needed to return to
original research - testing
G A M E & N A R R AT I V E S Y S T E M

22. Hanna—familial model
Raina—collegial model
Challenges:
• Relationships: romance? savior?
• Clothing
• Provoke empathy, not sympathy
Female Characters
Third Key: Video Game
Mobile Challenge: #MeToo movement strengthens female characters
G A M E & N A R R AT I V E S Y S T E M

23. ● Originally neutral
● Powerful, stands up for herself
● Player solves problem through supporting
female characters rather then saving &
protecting
Became:
● Mentor to Hannah, Hannah learns to stand
up for herself
● Stronger role model for girls
Raina
Third Key: Video GameG A M E & N A R R AT I V E S Y S T E M

24. • Patronizing behavior
• Dismissive attitude
• Exclusionary tactics
• Gender discrimination
• Verbal abuse
• Gang humiliation
• Violation of personal property
• Slander
• Separation from friends
• Mild physical violence
• Abduction
• Extreme violence
Third Key: Video GameG A M E & N A R R AT I V E S Y S T E M

25. Player Choice:
• Branching Narrative: Player can always choose
to play for or against gender equality
• Strategic: soccer matches
• Skill-building: training mini-games
Third Key: Video Game
Mobile Challenge: touch screen interface requires new designs for soccer
matches & mini-games, tighter narrative
G A M E & N A R R AT I V E S Y S T E M

26. • Narrative choices determine whom one can train with & learn from influencing soccer
skill level
• Likewise in the mobile game, when you re-enter the narrative your choices are recounted
to you and determine the ending
Value (Karma 2018) System:
Third Key: Video GameG A M E & N A R R AT I V E S Y S T E M

27. • Narrative decisions assign negative, positive, or neutral points
• Some decisions are worth more than others
• Progressing relationships:
Value (Karma 2018) System:
Third Key: Video Game
• Player must earn a certain number of points & a certain ratio allows to train with differing
characters
• Player earns special moves from characters as relationship builds
• The more they play or train, the more player influences other characters determining potential for
success in soccer matches
G A M E & N A R R AT I V E S Y S T E M
Mobile Challenge: other players, not the coach, decide player’s outcome

28. G A M E & N A R R AT I V E S Y S T E M Third Key: Video Game

29. Fourth Key: Youth CampsG A M E & N A R R AT I V E S Y S T E M
Facilitator’s Guide

30. Fourth Key: Youth CampsG A M E & N A R R AT I V E S Y S T E M
https://vimeo.com/164490748

31. Fourth Key: Youth CampsG A M E & N A R R AT I V E S Y S T E M
Facilitator’s Guide

32. Fourth Key: Youth CampsG A M E & N A R R AT I V E S Y S T E M
UNICEF implementation—Mahama Refugee Camp, Rwanda
100,000 Burundians/40 are children

33. 2014 & 2015 in El Salvador, 2017 in Buffalo NY
Dr. Hua (Helen) Wang, University of Buffalo
• 2013 Camp: 83 participants/2 groups
• 2014 Camp: 113 participants/3 groups
• 2016 Camp: 31 participants/3 groups
Youth Camps Research Results

34. R E S E A R C H R E S U LT S Recording Player’s Computer Screen Activities

35. R E S E A R C H R E S U LT S
● 83% reread dialogue before answering
● Younger girls spend more time reading
● Pro-social rate 50-90%
● Anti-social rate 10-37%
Narrative Exposure & Responses to Questions

36. Participatory sketching
I am hurt
I don’t know why they
do not allow girls to play
if we are all equal
R E S E A R C H R E S U LT S

37. Draw an example of bullying
(verbal, physical, psychological)
that you have learned from
BREAKAWAY and how to deal
with it.
we stop violence and leave discrimination in the past!!!!!
nobody likes me
because she looks nice.
what's more, quit
bothering her,
She doesn't even hang
out with you or do
anything to you.
yeah, she's such an ugly girl.
oooh, so gross. this girl –
don't talk to her
R E S E A R C H R E S U LT S Behavior Modeling

38. R E S E A R C H R E S U LT S
On average, campers chose more female player stickers
than male player stickers although the difference was not
statistically significant
Girls chose significantly more female player stickers
Boys chose more male player stickers but also asked for
female stickers
Empowerment
Open to change
Gamification

39. R E S E A R C H R E S U LT S
87.7% Completely agree1.8% Disagree
The GREAT DEBATE:
Can a girl be on a soccer team?
10.5% Conditionally agree
Great Debate

40. Come Play!
Learn more:
BREAKAWAY Web: https://breakawaygame.champlain.edu
BREAKAWAY FB:https://www.facebook.com/breakawaygame
EMC Web: https://www.champlain.edu/emc
EMC Instagram: ccemergentmedia
BREAKAWAY Twitter: @breakawaygame
EMC Twitter: @CCEmergentMedia
YouTube: champlainemc
Vimeo: ccemergentmedia
This presentation & others by Ann DeMarle: https://www.slideshare.net/anndemarle
http://breakawaygame.champlain.edu,
@breakawaygame

41. Publications:
• DeMarle, A., Let Us Entertain You: Entertainment industries propel technologies that engage our seven senses and blur
the barriers of work and play, Computer Magazine, 8/17
• DeMarle, A., How do we keep the virtual world from being infected with real world biases?, Philadelphia Enquirer,
10/3/17
• Wang, H., Wu, Y. C., & Choi, J. H. BREAKAWAY Research Brief for Emergent Media Center at Champlain College in
Vermont, USA and the UNDP in El Salvador, 12/16. Available at https://breakawaygame.champlain.edu/wp-content/
uploads/ sites/33/2014/03/BREAKAWAY_Research_Brief_Final-1.pdf
• Wang, H., Choi, J. H., Wu., Y., & DeMarle, A., BREAKAWAY: Combating violence against women and girls through
soccer video game and youth camps. Health & New Media Research, 2(4), available at http://healthmedia.hallym.ac.kr/
• Wang, H., Wu, Y., Choi, J. H., & DeMarle, A., Players as transitional characters: How youth can “BREAKAWAY” from
gender-based violence, Well Played, 8, 27-40. 2019. Available at http://press.etc.cmu.edu/index.php/product/well-
played-vol-8-no-1/
• Wang, H., Choi, J. H., Wu, Y. C., & DeMarle, A. (in press). BREAKAWAY: A narrative-based digital game to educate
youth about gender-based discrimination and violence. In K. Schrier (Ed.), Learning, education, and games (Volume 3):
100 Games to Use in the classroom and beyond. ETC Press. http://breakawaygame.champlain.edu,
@breakawaygame
Come Play!

42. To play the mobile version for Android devices:
http://bit.ly/breakawaymobile
To play original version:
www.breakawaygame.com
Come Play!
Ann DeMarle
Professor Emeritus
Champlain College Emergent Media Center
demarle@champlain.edu, @anndemarle http://breakawaygame.champlain.edu,
@breakawaygame