Serious Games Source and Gamasutra have both reposted CEO Sharon Sloane’s recent opinion piece about the current debate over the Columbine RPG.

Recent controversy surrounding this year’s Slamdance Guerrilla Gamemaker Competition and the Super Columbine Massacre Role Playing Game incited a debate and raised important questions. The commotion has subsided, but we will see this debate return because games, and more accurately, “serious games” are exploring a much greater range of topics. As a result, a serious game will soon hit a collective nerve again, causing us to ask, does this cross a line, and just what is a serious game anyway?

Read Sharon’s opinion piece here at Serious Games Source and Gamasutra.

Serious Games Source has also written a brief article about our recent grant award from CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield:

Hate Comes Home begins with a homecoming dance that is cut short when two students are killed in a hate crime committed by other students. In the game, the player must navigate through a series of decisions to reach a peaceful outcome. INO2, on the other hand, is designed to help 11 - 17-year-olds make educated choices about alcohol and other drugs by placing them in a series of potentially compromising situations.

Read the full article here.

Potomac, MD: WILL Interactive, Inc., the Potomac, MD-based leader in virtual experience behavior modification gaming and recipient of the National Training and Simulation Association (NTSA) ‘2006 Best Serious Game’ award, in partnership with the Public Charter School Student Support Center (SSC), known for their work in substance abuse and violence prevention in urban schools serving high-risk youth, announced the receipt of a grant from CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield. The grant will be used to address school violence in five Washington, D.C. schools by introducing an education program that will utilize WILL Interactive’s serious games, Hate Comes Home and Interactive Nights Out 2™ (INO2™). Included within the grant will be a license for each school to continue using Hate Comes Home and Interactive Nights Out 2 after the initial education program is completed.

“We are excited to work with CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield to take a decisive step in addressing the important issue of school violence,” said Sharon Sloane, CEO WILL Interactive, Inc. “WILL Interactive’s serious game learning tools, Hate Comes Home and Interactive Nights Out 2, instruct in a unique, highly engaging medium attractive to the video game generation. The software will be instrumental in the success of this program in teaching students how to think rather than what to think.”
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The Lexington Herald-Leader writes an article about WILL’s Generation Rx:

“Prescription drug abuse, a major problem in Eastern Kentucky, has now become a national public health issue, Mathews said.

‘Through this new interactive program, we now hope to lead the nation in demonstrating a new way to involve teenagers in avoiding future drug abuse,’ he said. ‘We’re dealing with a video-game generation.’”

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Yahoo! Tech writes an article about video games that teach kids life-changing lessons including WILL’s Generation Rx in its list of serious games:

“It’s not just about shoot ‘em ups, though. It’s called decision training, and Will Interactive takes the gameplay a step further by using real actors and movie scenarios in its games such as Generation RX. Generation RX deals with the growing problem of teenagers who abuse prescription drugs. Kids watch a story unfold and reach critical decision points. Based on those decisions, the story moves along, with kids exploring the various consequences.”

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Serious Game Source writes an article on the seriousness and effectiveness of WILL’s Generation Rx:

“Generation Rx was designed to improve critical thinking, judgment and decision-making, and uses WILL Interactive’s patented VEILS (Virtual Experience Immersive Learning Simulations) technology, which the company notes has been proven effective in changing behavior and enhancing positive decision-making.”

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Confronting a national epidemic, interactive program uses familiar video-game technology to reach a tech-savvy teen audience

Potomac, MD: WILL Interactive, Inc., the Potomac, MD-based leader in virtual experience behavior modification gaming, has created Generation Rx™, an interactive gaming simulation, in collaboration with Kentucky River Community Care, Inc. (KRCC), a private non-profit organization dedicated to mental health. A high-tech “choose-your-own-adventure” program with serious consequences, Generation Rx™ was developed to tackle the devastating national epidemic of prescription and over-the-counter drug abuse among 12-17 year-old youth.
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Prestigious Peer-Recognition Industry Award for “Hate Comes Home”

Potomac, MD: WILL Interactive, Inc., the Potomac, MD-based leader in virtual experience behavior modification gaming, has been named a winner at the Software & Information Industry Association’s 21st Annual CODiE Awards for the immersive learning simulation Hate Comes Home in the category of Best Instructional Solution: Social Studies.

Hate Comes Home, created by WILL Interactive, Inc. in partnership with the Anti-Defamation League, follows high school students as they navigate such issues as hate crimes, racism, bias and school violence. In use by thousands of middle and high schools across the country, Hate Comes Home gives youth the opportunity to become the lead characters in an interactive movie and make life-altering decisions as one of four high school students who hold the key to stopping a tragic hate crime before it happens.
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