It's a little weird to write a story that contains the terms, "Fox News," "videogame" and "sex" yet isn't actually negative. Well, not in the traditional sense, anyway.
Fox News Orlando reports that the University of Central Florida is hard at work developing a videogame geared towards female middle school students intended to teach them skills for handling peer pressure relating to sex. The game places them in social situations and they make choices and score points for demonstrating appropriate responses to offers of sexual activity and innuendo from onscreen avatars.
Now, the ridiculous part. The game uses a full motion-capture suit. They're going to put kids in motion-capture suits and have them act out rejecting male students. I'll grant you, it's a skill that all girls benefit from having, but is the suit really necessary? Not to mention it looks creepy as hell and is costing taxpayers $434,000.
I'm completely in favor of games being used as educational tools but this is just way too much. For that money, you could hire at least ten entry-level teachers and thin out some class sizes in low-income communities which would probably be just as effective in reducing teen pregnancies.
Hit the jump and you can see video of the game in action. If you think the above screen capture is terrifying, you really need to check this out.
Conrad Zimmerman is Destructoid's News Editor and home to the busiest mustache in the gaming press. An amateur historian and pop culture fanatic, Conrad possesses a nearly limitless wealth of videogame factoids and a passion for the power of games to teach, inspire and entertain. He enjoys reading, writing and turning things which should be fun into work.
Likes
Mega Man 2, Arcade Games, Books about games, Board games, Having cultural interests that aren't games
Meet the rest of the team
Great, the government is going to kill NASA, but still has money to do this pedophile game (just make all the "wrong" choices and maybe you can get to watch a motion capture kiddie porn extravaganza)
This could do wonders for kids self esteem. Play a guy and every time a girl comes up to tempt you into giving up your special gift you could "lose". It's the feel good game of the year.
I don't get it. How does peer pressure exist within the game? I'm sure kids already know what the "right" responses are. The challenge is doing it under pressure.
I can't believe a game like this cost $434,000. I can think of several indie games that look much better than this, and are actually fun, made on a budget of zero dollars. I'm seriously wondering how UFC is spending all of that money, surely it couldn't have all been spent on doing all the motion-capture stuff.
It sounds like she say "fucks" instead of "Fox" at the end. I thought that was funny. Anyway, this game looks like a waste of money. Seriously, all that money, and the suit sucks. Regardless, I think that this game is pretty pointless. How many teenage girls are actually going to take this seriously? Plus, like coldalarm said, they shouldn't be talking about abstinence, but sex instead. Obviously middle school girls shouldn't be having secks, but education is more effective than promotion. The only response I got from this was laughter. Silly Florida. Always doing weird stuff. Oh well. Home sweet home.
i went through middle and high school in florida and we had comprehensive sex education taught in the school system. we all got a good laugh in middle school but in high school they delt more with unwanted pregnancy and stds -- scary stuff to anyone paying attention. anyway, they didn't hand out condoms or contraception or condone premarital sex. what i remember was a pretty matter of fact explanation into things that let us decide if we wanted to try and get laid.
not sure whats wrong with that old system or why we need videogames to tell our kids how to say no. this is just retarded. if a parent can't talk to his or her daughter about this kind of stuff then a videogame sure as hell isn't going to be able to fill the gap. wtf.... oh and thanks for wasting my tax money!
I hope this game is wildly successful and takes the world by storm. Then when the world is underpopulated and young males commit suicide over self-esteem issues within the new social norms, they can develop a new game to deal with that. Besides, haven't 14-year-olds been having babies since the beginning of time?
I like that the it mapped the reporter's arms the wrong way round, giving the glass-eyed tween in the game severely broken arms. And THAT'S when the cameraman puts it full-screen.
How about a cheap flashgame showing people (not just girls) how to use a condom correctly and tell people to carry one with them instead of believing in their willpower to resist nature (hint: it doesn't work).
Costs only 15$ to make or none if you ask a student to do it and 10000 times more effective.
Ya were billons of dollars in debt so lets make a shity game that will not work. If you want kids not to have sex then tell them the risk of having it insted of making shity games for money that the goverment doesnt have
In defense of the game, I think a big part of the abstinence movement is less about sex being "bad" and more about trying to prevent the spread of disease and unwanted pregnancies. However, I agree that it's better to teach safe sex practices than to ignore them in favor of a No Sex Ever policy. I'm also not thrilled about the government funding.
Firstly there is no peer pressure in a game as there is no one else there. Secondly who you are in a game is not who you are in reality the freezer geezers they always have pushing this stuff really do not understand video games at all. I have never once found myself in a difficult situation and asked myself "what would soap mctavish/mario/zelda/master chief do in this situation". Thirdly what 12-14 year old girl is going to wear that suit?
Seriously does ANYONE really need to know how to put on a condom?
It's a cock shaped glove, rolled up. it's not rocket science, hell it's not even junior high science!
Still, the fact that they make sex feel 50% less great is the biggest problem. Guys have a natural urge to splooge inside of women. Pulling it out, pulling of a slimy rubber leaving you with a slimy johnson, is pretty sucky.
Sex education needs only one word. "Condom". 99.99% effective at preventing both pregnancy and STD. No need to use scare tactics or a $434k video game to teach that.
Plus, I know that all my time spent on Ganguro Girl has immensely helped out my dating skills.
@Karutomaru
If it were on the Wii,they could use motion controls to slap the boys or gesture to tell them to "Talk to the hand/step off/other outdated slang" rather than wear a cumbersome mo-cap suit...not that a console isn't the right place for a mo-cap suit. It's being played behind closed doors at home so who cares if it makes the player look goofy?
It's really brilliant how they make everyone look so unattractive that noone who wasn't already incredibly desperate would even think about approaching them sexually...at least,it would be if middle school/high school girls' "first time" was usually with their peers. It's the hot college guys they've got to teach them to say no to/use a condom with.
I blame Elvis Presley,Twilight Zoners and those gol' dern music vidya games.
This is so fucking typical. It's usually the conservative whack-jobs pushing for abstinence only education and I would bet cash money that that base had something to do with this getting made. They get it both ways. Fox pushes the agenda and then gets to complain about what it cost to make, blaming it on the current administration. Don't be duped. It's supposed to incite anger towards the Dems (The only reason Faux News exists).
... think of all the condoms they could distribute for that amount of money. As others have said, safe sex education might go much, much further than a "how not to have sex" videogame.
You'd think by now people would realize abstinence training doesnt work. The most christian town in america ( a texas town I forget the name of right offhand) has abstinence only sex ed. It also has the highest teen pregnancy rate in america.
Course, on secoind thought, the funnier part is I bet the republicans dont even bat an eye over the expenditure given this supports their usual platforms.
LOL im a UCF digital media student and we were just talking about what a waste this is and how we in the game development and cg departments could use this tech but i really dont care anymore im goin back to fine art
Why does the little girl look like she has Parkinson's disease? And is that like a hand-me down motion capture suit I thought the recent ones had much more points on them so the characters didn't look like they dislocated all of their joints at the same times.
Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?
Avoiding the banhammer only requires common sense: spamming, trolling, racism, NSFW stuff, and other forms of sucking will not be tolerated. If anyone is griefing please report abuse. Be good. Don't suck!
what is wrong with you people that you can't deal with the most natural thing in the world?
haha my submissions was finally chosen for front page.
Welcome to Obama's America.
not sure whats wrong with that old system or why we need videogames to tell our kids how to say no. this is just retarded. if a parent can't talk to his or her daughter about this kind of stuff then a videogame sure as hell isn't going to be able to fill the gap. wtf.... oh and thanks for wasting my tax money!
*Groan*
Still, I think its working; I really don’t want to have sex with anything in that game.
Costs only 15$ to make or none if you ask a student to do it and 10000 times more effective.
your comment reminded me of this: http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/183612/
Parents, do your job
100 GS
It's a cock shaped glove, rolled up. it's not rocket science, hell it's not even junior high science!
Still, the fact that they make sex feel 50% less great is the biggest problem. Guys have a natural urge to splooge inside of women. Pulling it out, pulling of a slimy rubber leaving you with a slimy johnson, is pretty sucky.
Plus, I know that all my time spent on Ganguro Girl has immensely helped out my dating skills.
You know what's even yuckier? WAAAAH! WAAAH! WAAAAH! WAAAH! WAAAAH! WAAAH! For more information, play Yoshi's Island.
If it were on the Wii,they could use motion controls to slap the boys or gesture to tell them to "Talk to the hand/step off/other outdated slang" rather than wear a cumbersome mo-cap suit...not that a console isn't the right place for a mo-cap suit. It's being played behind closed doors at home so who cares if it makes the player look goofy?
It's really brilliant how they make everyone look so unattractive that noone who wasn't already incredibly desperate would even think about approaching them sexually...at least,it would be if middle school/high school girls' "first time" was usually with their peers. It's the hot college guys they've got to teach them to say no to/use a condom with.
I blame Elvis Presley,Twilight Zoners and those gol' dern music vidya games.
/jk
It'll be interesting how this turns out. Even if the road indeed leads to hell, it's still paved with good intentions.