Programme Pack: Moral Issues
This programme pack endeavours to explore the issues of morality, both good and evil, and the consequences of such orientated decisions. It relates this topic through the medium of videogames, a medium which is a particularly prominent in today's youth culture. The contents of this programme pack consist of 3 individual session, each lasting 1 hour and 30 minutes.
Note: Access to some form of game console or computer is essential when using this programme pack, and it is recommended for a group of no more than 15 young people, aged 11-16.
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There are 3 games used in this programme pack, each one is incorporated to help reflect a particular theme. The overarching theme is 'Moral Issues', and this theme is split into 3 segments; 'Good vs Evil', 'Decisions' and 'Consequences'. Each segment coincides with a different game, being 'Botanicula' (Age 7+), 'This War of Mine' (Age 18+) and 'The Cave' (Age 7+) respectively.
Botanicula is a point and click adventure game that tells the story of a group of tree dwelling creatures attempting to travel to the ground, in order to plant the last remaining seed and thus save their home from an invading virus. The game contains a range of characters, both Good and Evil, and so the leader's job would be to encourage the young people to take note of which characters appear to be evil, and which do not. There may be characters that seem bad, but are in fact good, and visa versa. This is to reflect the understanding that we shouldn't judge judge people by their appearance, and that evil can sometimes put on an deceiving exterior.
Though this game is officially classed as suitable for people over the age of 18, the contents of the game are not extreme. The game teaches on the important topic of war. Violence and bad language is to be expected, of which the game has small amounts in moderation.
This War of Mine is a game that shows the player what it is like to live as a civilian in an area in the grips of war. The player can control 3 characters through point and click interaction. The aim of the game is to help the three characters survives the trials and difficulties of war, but how the characters go about this is entirely up to the player. They can take the honest route, scavenging from abandoned places, and helping others where they can. Or they can take the corrupt route, stealing from others, and committing crime in order to survive. The leader should draw attention to the actions that the young people take, and help to identify whether the actions were just or not. This is to help the young people understand the difficulties of decision making, whether to work for themselves or for others.
The Cave is another point and click game, though the keyboard can also be used to control the characters. There are 7 main characters in the game; the Scientist, Twins, Hillbilly, Monk, Time-traveler, Archaeologist. and the Knight. Each of these characters have made bad choices in their attempt to reach their heart's desire. The game shows the choices they made, and then shows the consequences of those actions. The player can only control 3 of the characters at once, and at the end of the game, they may choose to sacrifice their heart's desire to attain positive consequences of the character's actions, rather than the default negative ones.The leader should draw attention to the consequences of each story. It may be helpful to search from the images of each characters story, with both good and bad endings, just in case the player doesn't complete a particular characters story-line.
Please be aware that this programme pack doesn't limit you to the use of these three games only. Any other game can be used, as long as they reflect the relevant themes. They do not need to be digital games, they could be board games, card games, or even physical games. The games used should be advised by the context of the young people you work with. If you find the young people aren't engaging with the games, alter the teaching methods to suit their needs.
