Breakaway (2010 video game)

Breakaway
Developer(s) Emergent Media Center at Champlain College
Publisher(s) Champlain College
Platform(s) web browser
Release date(s)

‹See Tfd›

  • WW: June/July 2010
Genre(s) Sports video game, educational game
Mode(s) Single-player

Breakaway is a soccer browser game released in 2010 as part of the United Nations Development Programme, intended to educate children about gender issues.

Gameplay

The player plays on a soccer team with the goal of reaching the finals.[1] In each level, the player makes a number of choices related to gender equality, including a girl's abuse and abduction.[1] The player who makes choices sympathetic to gender equality wins,[2] while the player who interacts with negative non-player characters is designed to lose the game.[3] Interspersed with the plot-focused levels are mini-games, where the player learns better skills from the more-positive characters.[3]

Players have virtual mentors, such as Samuel Eto'o.[3]

Development and release

The Emergent Media Center at Champlain College developed the game in response to a United Nations campaign to teach children "a healthy, equal attitude towards girls and women."[3][4] The game is co-developed with the Population Media Center,[3] and has been funded by the United Nations Population Fund and the United Nations Development Programme.[1][4] It took the team of approximately 100 students two years to develop the game (5 "episodes"),[3] with a further eight "episodes" fully completed by 2013.[1] Over 150 students had helped with the game by 2016.[4]

The developers traveled to South Africa to understand the "social conditions that can lead to abuse", such as physical abuse, date rape, sex slavery, and honor killing.[3] The development of the game was challenging as a result of United Nations requirements, "including that the game show no real violence and appeal to a global population."[5] Soccer was chosen because of its universality.[1] The negative team captain was strongly-modeled after a person with borderline personality disorder; play-testers did not empathize with the initial design and so he was scaled back.[5] The developers employed Sabido methodology, attempting to provide 70% entertainment and 30% educational message, which the director Ann DeMarle believes may have influenced the game's success.[5]

The game was released during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and it was later directly demonstrated to a number of UN officials.[3] As of 2016, the developers are seeking an award which would enable the team to develop a mobile version, localize the game to South Africa, run camps, and provide computer equipment.[4]

Reception

CNET found the graphics "colorful" and the music "lively".[3]

The developers found that 90% of players make positive decisions.[3] Young boys initially thought the concept of girls playing soccer controversial; after playing the game, nearly 90% "agreed that girls can play soccer".[1] Research by State University of New York at Buffalo "demonstrated that the game had a profound impact on participants' awareness and attitudes, and also indicated behavioral change."[4]

The game has been played in 185 countries, and led to youth soccer camps in El Salvador and the Palestinian territories, the latter "[challenging] social norms."[4]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Farokhmanesh, Megan (3 March 2015). "How a soccer game taught boys about gender equality". Polygon. Archived from the original on 14 September 2016.
  2. ↑ Champlain College Emergent Media Center (2010). Breakaway.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Katz, Leslie (5 November 2010). "Little soccer game with big goal: Kicking violence". CNET.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Cahalane, Claudia (15 May 2016). "There's an online soccer game used to fight gender based violence". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 12 October 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 Peterson, Blake (3 March 2015). "GDC 2015: Building Better Educational Games". Game Revolution. Archived from the original on 16 September 2016.

Further reading

External links

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