England seems to have a problem.
I'm not talking about dental hygiene (some of them have very lovely teeth!), nor am I referring to whatever it is they try to pass off as "food" and "cuisine" over there. This is something much more serious, and potentially deadly.
Children can't cross the street.
Despite the best efforts of Britain's finest, "tweenagers" are still running wildly into the road and throwing themselves into the paths of oncoming vehicles, and people are finally fed up. Now, I think this could have been easily solved if they would just drive on the correct side of the road, but a group of researchers had a much better idea -- they made an MMO.
In the middle of last month, the UK's Department for Transportation quietly released Code of Everand, a game that replaces busy streets with 'spirit channels', and help teach kids road safety by requiring them to "safely traverse [the] lanes by looking left and right". (Yeah, yeah, it's kind of old, but we're not really up on the "Street Crossing MMO" scene.) If you properly look both ways, you'll earn Concentration Points when you can then use to kill monsters.
Joking aside, it's an interesting idea. It sounds like the developers, Area/Code, put some serious thought into the game as it boasts a quest system, weapons and armor to upgrade, and what sounds like a rudimentary socialization system. It's not World of Warcraft, but it seems to have more depth than a lot of the educational games we see get thrown around the internet. Whether it's more effective than, say, telling your kids to look both ways before crossing the street so they don't die, remains to be seen.
Regardless of if the mechanics of the game teach kids to be safer, one thing's for sure -- if kids get addicted to an MMO, they won't be running around outside getting hit by cars.
[Via The Guardian]
Contest:
1:00 AM on 12.11.2009
| 
Personally, I think it's worth a few kids to be able to wander across the streets without paying attention as long as you travel in a group. London must already be nightmare to drive around in anyway, what's another pain in the ass for drivers?
Use the fucking crosswalks, poor people that can't afford cars.
agreed, that sounds more important.
What's next, Tooth Brushing MMO? Where you can either choose the Colgate Alliance, or the Plaque Horde! Fight to protect the peaceful Enamel, or swear to destroy them and their allies, Gums.
since cars HAVE to stop when a pedestrian wants to cross the street in most of Europe, most pedestrians just stopped looking out for cars...
I've always said it would come to this... Let them walk into the street and get killed, that's what Darwinnian law is for!
Thanks for defending us =D
Sometimes I think Destructoid forget they have international readers.
Un-bloody-believable.
Aside from that, I really don't know a lot about england except they have powerful whisky:
There's even a mention on the label that Queen Victoria & King Edward drink the stuff. How badass is that?! Why can't I have a prime minister that drinks whisky?!
From your lips to God's ears, Jonathan Ross.
In the American South, they do it with chicken, but it's gross over here, too.
Cherries and pecans and pumpkin and apples go in pie -- not meat.
I see what you did there.
We did have Narc, Narc was superior to MMOs. Kids were taught to say no to drugs and to gib drug dealing clowns and guys who look like wesker with a rocket launcher. Take that Dr. Spike Rush!!!!
You're walking a fine line there.
Scotland isn't England.
Bless the gov'ment; this is kind of like the kid in school who always used to follow around the cool group and try to fit in by buying the same clothes and being into the same stuff. Poor little guy.
*shamefuly runs to a corner*
I didn't even know Scotland was a monarchy. :S That's where claymores are from, right?
Nope, they are American. Never tire of the front toward enemy text.
Claymores were originally massive swords, and I can't comment on where they're from, and I only can't be arsed to look it up.
Excuse me while I smash my head off of my desk, just so you all don't have to.
http://codeofeverand.co.uk/
its fucking badass for a game about crossing the street
<a href="http://www.articlesbase.com/loans-articles/payday-loans-is-a-payday-loan-the-right-personal-cash-advance-option-for-you-1598144.html">Payday Loans</a>