Game aims to raise domestic violence awareness

A major EU-funded project at the University of Huddersfield will lead to the development of a game designed to help reduce levels of domestic violence. An inter-disciplinary group has been awarded €400,000 from the European Union’s Delegation to the Eastern Caribbean Research Programme: Towards a Future Free from Domestic Violence. This will fund a multi-faceted investigation of domestic violence in the Caribbean countries of Grenada and Barbados. The project as been named None in Three.

Data will be used to develop an interactive, role-playing computer game designed to educate and influence attitude change among potential perpetrators of violence while seeking to empower those who are at risk of victimisation.

“There is enough evidence to tell us that computer games can generate violence,” said team leader Professor Adele Jones. “So what we want to do is look at how we can create an educational tool that might begin to generate empathy – or non-violence.”

The University of Huddersfield will work with the Grenada-based Sweet Water Foundation, which campaigns on child sexual abuse. Professor Jones said that the research would also focus on vulnerable and marginalised groups of women.

When the game has been developed it will be piloted among groups of young people in the Caribbean. The language will be adaptable for different countries, although the basic content will probably remain the same.

The article has been adapted from the Serious Games Industry.

Author: Jerome Gastaldi
Date: January 2016
Website: https://www.seriousgamesindustry.com

Game aims to raise domestic violence awareness

“There is enough evidence to tell us that computer games can generate violence,” said team leader Professor Adele Jones. “So what we want to do is look at how we can create an educational tool that might begin to generate empathy – or non-violence.”

Message by EU Former Ambassador Mikael Barfod