Players as Transitional Characters: How Youth Can “BREAKAWAY” from Gender-based Violence
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BREAKAWAY is a soccer-themed digital game that uses the mechanics of interactive storytelling from a first person perspective to help youth worldwide learn about gender-based violence. We highlight narrative elements built into the game design to facilitate social learning and behavior change, enabling players to become “transitional characters” and break away from negative gender norms. We also feature the user experience captured through various methods and summarize how young players in different parts of the world have responded to the BREAKAWAY initiative.
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Players as Transitional Characters: How Youth Can “BREAKAWAY” from Gender-based Violence
- 1. Yishin C. Wu University of Buffalo yishinc@gmail.com Ann DeMarle Champlain College Emergent Media Center Associate Dean, Professor, Director demarle@champlain.edu, @anndemarle I F W E A R E TO TE A C H R E A L P E A C E I N TH I S W O R L D , A N D I F W E A R E TO C A R R Y O N A R E A L W A R A G A I N S T W A R , W E S H A L L H A V E TO B E G I N W I TH TH E C H I L D R E N . - MA H A TMA G H A N D I “ PLAYERS AS TRANSITIONAL CHARACTERS HOW YOUTH CAN “BREAKAWAY” FROM GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE “ www.breakawaygame.com http://breakawaygame.champlain.edu @breakawaygame
- 2. Outline • What it is • Game System • Research Results • Play Game
- 3. BREAKAWAY • Addresses VAWG • Community-led • Pivotal developmental ages • Soccer-based program • Innovative game • Youth to create lasting change
- 4. Production: ● Project Start 2009 ● Launched 13 episodes online/CD 2011 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 Fast Facts
- 5. 1. Awareness of the issue 2. Accountability for actions 3. Attitude & behavior change 4. Advocacy Shift Boy’s Behavior Empower Girls
- 6. B E G I N W I T H T H E C H I L D R E N
- 7. B E G I N W I T H T H E C H I L D R E N
- 8. B E G I N W I T H T H E C H I L D R E N “If your boyfriend beats you, he loves you best.” - 13 year old girl, South Africa interviews, 2009
- 9. P L A Y I S O F T E N T A 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 A Y I S S E R I O U S L E A R N I N G . P L A Y I S R E A L L Y 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
- 10. First Key: SoccerG A M E
- 11. 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 G A M E
- 12. • 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
- 13. What does it take to become a champion? Third Key: Video GameG A M E
- 14. 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 Third Key: Video GameG A M E
- 15. “...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 GameG A M E
- 16. Hanna—familial model Raina—collegial model Challenges: • Relationships: romance? savior? • Clothing • Provoke empathy, not sympathy Female Characters Third Key: Video GameG A M E
- 17. ● Originally neutral ● Powerful, stands up for herself ● Player solves problem ● Support rather then save & protect female characters Became: ● Mentor to Hannah ● Role model for girls Raina Third Key: Video GameG A M E
- 18. • 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
- 19. 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 GameG A M E
- 20. • Narrative choices determine whom one can train with & learn from influencing soccer skill level • Likewise these in the mobile game re-enter the narrative replaying your choices to determine the ending Value (Karma 2018) System: Third Key: Video GameG A M E
- 21. • Narrative decisions assign negative, positive, or neutral points • Some decisions are worth more than others • Progressing relationships: Value (Karma 2018) System: Third Key: Video GameG A M E • 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 • 2018 build replays decisions in narrative based on endings
- 22. Fourth Key: Youth CampsG A M E
- 23. 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 RESEARCH
- 24. 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
- 25. 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 Behavior Modeling
- 26. R E S E A R C H 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 significantly more male player stickers Empowerment Open to change Gamification
- 27. R E S E A R C H 87.7% Completely agree1.8% Disagree The GREAT DEBATE: Can a girl be on a soccer team? 10.5% Conditionally agree Great Debate
- 28. R E S E A R C H Recording Player’s Computer Screen Activities
- 29. R E S E A R C H Narrative Exposure & Responses to Questions
- 30. R E S E A R C H ● 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
- 31. Looking for testers for our formal mobile launch: bit.ly/l4testers Android devices, must have a gmail account To play original version: www.breakawaygame.com
- 32. Yishin C. Wu University of Buffalo yishinc@gmail.com Ann DeMarle Champlain College Emergent Media Center Associate Dean, Professor, Director demarle@champlain.edu, @anndemarle Looking for testers for our formal mobile launch: bit.ly/l4testers Android devices, must have a gmail account To play original version: www.breakawaygame.com Come Play! www.breakawaygame.com http://breakawaygame.champlain.edu @breakawaygame
Hinweis der Redaktion
- Today we hope to cover
- So what is BREAKAWAY? It is a preventive educational program to address violence against women and girls. How? By changing cultural perceptions through a community-led model that educates youth during the pivotal developmental ages of 8-15 years old recognizing the potential of youth to create long lasting change. The innovative core is an entertaining and deeply relevant mobile game entitled, BREAKAWAY.
- Some Fast Facts: we are the game you never heard of - despite numerous awards. We began as a partnership between Champlain College’s EMC, Population Media Center and UNFPA. Later joined by numerous partners to include the UNDP in EL Salvador and our research partner Dr. Helen Wang of the University of Buffalo. We bagged production of a web and CD delivered game in 2009 and have just completed a mobile version for Android to be launched this fall.
- There are many VAWG programs focused on victims. From the start the BREAKAWAY initiative took on a different tack - to change the attitudes & behavior of men and boys. But through launching and assessing the program, we have also found that it empowers girls. Specifically the goals of the game are for youth to become aware of the issue, understand their own accountability, change they attitudes & behaviors, and to become advocate for ending VAWG.
- What we’ve witnessed with the creation of BREAKAWAY - after partnering with the UNFPA and PMC to create is that youth are incredibly powerful change makers when they take the lead. Both in designing and producing BREAKAWAY and later
- …when other students initiated, organized, and launched with the city of Hebron in the Palestinian Territories and then the UNDP and the municipalities of Sonsonate to offer the first BREAKAWAY youth camps
- So were did we begin? We took it out of our cultural context with initial discovery in South Africa - in both the townships and the wealthier high schools. Learning about from the youth what their perspectives were on technology, play and gender-based violence - that is where my students and I encountered this perspective over and over again.
- The game changer behind BREAKAWAY is the power of play for learning, of joyful learning - as the pre-eminent educational media innovator, Mr. Rodgers, has said “Play is serious learning, it is the work of childhood”.
- BREAKAWAY’s innovation has four keys: The first, it draws on the popularity of soccer, soccer being the most popular sport in the world with more nations members in FIFA than in the UN, and accordingly what it takes to be part of a team.
- Secondly it depends on a proven behavioral storytelling methodology originally applied to radio & TV: the Sabido methodology. (1) Based upon Jungian theory of positive negative archetypes and Bandura’s social cognitive theory, (2) it introduces intriguing characters - some with positive traits, some negative, and some caught in the middle. (3)With a goal of 70% entertainment, 30% message, the story is presented in a serial format with cliffhangers. Over the course of the series situations and ideas are introduced that pose challenges to the characters and cause them to change their behavior, which the viewer relates to and learns from.
- Thirdly, tying all of these parts together, BREAKAWAY is a video game - the media choice of youth. Games, like play, are a powerful format for learning. In the safe experiential place of a game, players take on (1) the identity of the characters, playing out real life situations, (2) actively making decisions which has been demonstrated to increase their critical thinking processes. (3) In their character role, they experience clear cause & effect of their choices. In order to complete and win a game players (4) repeatedly try over and over, propelled by their failures and successes, until they gain mastery of the material. (5) We know that this is recorded in our brains as an actual personal experience which leads the player to reflect and relive the game experience through sharing their game story.
- In BREAKAWAY, you become a main character - the transitional character facing a dilemma - the age old dilemma of peer pressure - who do you side with & who will hang out with you? The game system is based on an interactive narrative and a series of skill-building mini-games. Your choices in these determine you and your team’s chances at winning the final soccer championship and the video game itself! (1) In essence we ask the player “What does it take to become a champion - on the soccer pitch and as advocates for ending violence against women and girls?”
- In BREAKAWAY you enter as a teen trying to get on the soccer team. Two influencers in your life are the team captain Tal, and the star player Zak. You also have a younger sister Hanna, and later on a female team mate, Raina, who makes it onto the all boy soccer team. These characters are all assigned a negative, positive or neutral role. As the player, you make choices on how to treat the girls in the narrative. These decisions determine which team mates you practice with and therefore what soccer skills you learn from your team mates. The way the narrative interlocks with the game system, you literally you can not win if you do not become a champion for the girls in the narrative.
- Tal the team captain and bully has been drawn to fit a rather complex portrait of an abuser. He’s a bully but not a stereotypical one; indeed, Zak, the positive character, stands up to him without much fear. Rather, Tal is a brooding, manipulative sort of character modeled to fit several criteria of Borderline personality disorder (BPD). The serious mental illness, as described by the National Institutes of Mental Health, is “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 is by turns angry, depressed, and anxious, and these bouts can last hours or, at most a day. His sense of self is bound up in his soccer skills and his iron grip on the captain’s position, two sources of validation. His attitudes toward his teammates, then, shift from the positive sense of camaraderie to the negative sense of betrayal. A challenge to his leadership and a doubt in his prowess is a deep, deep questioning of his self-worth. Here’s the problem: At the moment when Raina joins his team, he already subscribes to some pervasive and regrettable notions of women as inferior. When he is not unanimously supported in this view, this triggers his disorder. When, throughout the game, he attempts to bully Raina off the team, his anger grows more intense with each failure. He is manipulative in accordance with his personality disorder, persistently interested in dividing the team into those loyal to him and those disloyal to him. Perhaps most important of all, however, he is not repugnant. In fact, early on in the game, the player could not be faulted for wanted to be held in Tal’s good favor. He’s a bit of a charmer.
- BREAKAWAY’s two female characters, Hanna and Raina, represent two groups - family and colleagues. In creating this game for a global audience we had to keep in mind some cultural constrictions…
- Raina - not a victim, player solves problem isn’t the savior
- As the player, you make choices on how to treat the female characters in the narrative. Tal, the captain of the team - and the abusive male - is focused on your sister, Hanna, and Raina, a female player who makes it onto an all boy’s team - infuriating Tal. His character follows the cycle of abusive personalities - from charming to aggressive - to blaming the victim and back again. The plot-line, likewise accelerates over time - exploring differing instances of violence against women and girls -from patronizing attitude to a final chapter that involves abduction. As the transitional character you need to decide who to side with - how to stand up to the bully. These decisions determine which teammates you practice with and therefore what soccer skills you learn from them. Literally you can not win the game if you do not become a champion for addressing violence against the girls in the narrative.
- The game offers the player three sources of intermixed play and agency through the narrative, strategic soccer matches and skill building mini-games
- After the completion of the game, we discovered the fourth innovation of BREAKAWAY - the BREAKAWAY youth camps. First launched by my former student Mahmoud Jabari in the Palestinian Territiories… And then by Marianna Herrara in Sonsonate, El Salvador. It was at that point that we were able to find funding for research.
- And I’d like to turn the story over to my colleague Yishin Wu
- They showed sympathy and empathy to the characters that were mistreated in the game episodes
- The research team had the coding of 56 campers' sticker sheets for further analysis. Campers were given opportunities to choose various stickers as rewards to decorate the soccer field worksheet in the playbook. The total number of stickers they earned ranged from 1 to 29, (M = 17.86, SD = 6.25). Overall, participants chose more female player stickers than male player stickers (MF = 8.11 vs. MM = 7.64). This pattern was consistent across the two camps. Girls chose significantly more female soccer player stickers (MF = 10.65) as compared to male soccer player stickers (MM = 5.70). Boys chose significantly more male soccer player stickers (MM = 10.04) but still asked for a substantial number of female soccer player stickers (MF = 6.64).