quote: Our trivia games make having "the talk" about coming-of-age issues more fun for teens and parents. Not only will your family finish a round of The Sex Ed Game knowing more about healthy lifestyles, you'll also learn more about each other. ... The Sex Ed Game is a fun, educational trivia game to help parents and teachers communicate with teens about sex, health, dating, body image, and other important coming-of-age issues.
Okay, in the interest of full disclosure I must say that my girlfriend is one of the people who worked on this game. But I'm interested in getting Hatrack's thoughts on the concept behind it, since I know we have some diverse views here.
Would you let your kids play a sex-ed video game, or play it with them as part of teaching them about sex? If you're a teenager, what would you think about your parents playing a game like this with you? What about if it was something they had in school as part of a sex-ed curriculum?
Most of the time when you here about sex in games it's parental groups complaining about it in GTA3 or Tomb Raider. Any chance of educational games helping improve that image, or will they always be shoved to the side because most educational games are boring?
posted
Seems like a useful tool. If I were a parent it's probably a product I'd buy and explore. If I liked it, I'd either play it with or give it to my kid, depending on which seemed to be the most nautral way to use the software.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
I don't think I'd buy a game like this because I couldn't know beforehand whether I would object to what it teaches.
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
What are the questions like? I think that a lot of teens and their parents would find playing the game together extremely awkward. If it asks informational questions rather than 'What would you do in this situation?' questions it would probably be less awkward. Perhaps the game will make a naturally awkward situation (talking to one's parents about sex) less awkward. That would be valuable.
I'm 18 - if I was 14 (or at whatever age sex ed is taught) I wouldn't object to playing the game at school, but I'm not sure it's the most effective way to communicate the material. I've come across a few trivia type games in science subjects, and they were almost always of little value - reading books was always the fastest way to learn, and notes or 'mind maps' were always the fastest way to digest what was learned. If my parents had bought the game, I probably would have wormed my way out of playing it with them.
As for the image of games I think educational games will always remain a minority, but perhaps there's potential to mix in educational elements in game styles which are already tried and true? It's not inconcievable that playing a strategy or shooter game could teach you a thing or two about WWII, or a role playing game set in an ancient culture could teach the player something about that society. But this is definitely NOT the right way to learn history or any other subject. In my opinion it's not the arts subjects that will benefit most from computer games, but physics and computer science/design. For the arts subjects, the best a game can do in my opinion is to get someone interested in a subject. Civilization for example might get a player interested in Aztec history, or even a WWII shooter could pique someone's interest in the history of the war.
If players are interested enough in a game and start to understand how it works, they will find that they can often design their own levels or make modifications. There's plenty of maths, programming and design involved there, but the people who take the time to learn about it will again be a minority (a growing minority, but still a minority). Strategy and other problem solving games I guess would help with more generic skills.
In my opinion purely educational games will never sell well or even teach well. I think teachers and educators should concentrate on writing their books and getting their students to read more rather than attempt to teach through games - especially at the age at which students are learning about sex. I think that the best way to motivate students is to convince them that they're work is worthwhile or important, or fun in itself. I think that presenting information in a fun medium is like getting a student to read a boring book and giving them a lollypop to suck on while they read it. The more transparent the medium, the less you notice it, the more attention the student can give to the information.
Those are my opinions, based on my own experience with educational games. Hopefully there are students who will find them more useful.
Posts: 1762 | Registered: Apr 2006
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posted
I wasn't given a book, but I didn't have any questions after the school's mandatory sex ed course either.
Posts: 1762 | Registered: Apr 2006
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posted
They are also working on a "christian" version of the game called Sex Can Wait, which focuses more on abstinence until marriage. I suppose you still wouldn't know exactly what it teaches until after you buy it.
However, both games have password-protected content controls so you could turn off questions or categories that you don't want to come up. It looks like the page describing how that works in more detail is one of the ones not really finished though.
posted
I would have thought that password protecting content would be counterproductive. I thought that the main aim of the game would have been to encourage frank conversation about a topic that would otherwise be awkward to discuss.
Since Sex Can Wait sounds like a kind of moralising game I wouldn't buy it until I saw a demo (even if I was Christian and a parent).
Posts: 1762 | Registered: Apr 2006
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posted
My parents had the talk with me when I was six. I had questions afterwards and read an encyclopedia to answer them. I had no questions afterwards.
I can see this software being a viable tool for teaching the biology of reproduction; I think morbid curiousity and fascination will compel many kids to try to play it. I don't think, however, that this will be an effective tool for anyone beyond the age of 10 or 11; by then, most people either know all the facts or think they do, and software like this isn't going to expand their knowledge or dissuade them from what they believe to be true. Parental coordination with this software could be effective, but I don't really know how effective.
The software could also be an effective teaching tool for familiarizing kids with birth control, but I don't see this being more effective than any other mandatory teaching device like a book or lecture.
If the software is going to attempt to teach kids about decision making regarding sex, I think it will be ineffective, regardless of how constructively it attempts to do so.
Posts: 4313 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
I wouldn't be remotely interested in such a game. I'm skeptical that it could be more informative than a simple conversation, and really doubt that the "interactivity" of a game setting would make the experience more enjoyable and less awkward for the players.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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posted
I doubt I was more than three when my parents got me books on the subject. Actually, the may have gotten them for my brother, but they read them to me.
I still remember the sperm in the top hat and the illustration that started the chapter on what to do if you got an erection in public.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
At the beginning of the section that introduced sperm, there was a cartoony drawing a of sperm in a top hat. I believe it was wearing a bow tie as well. I did not come away with the impression that sperm actually wore hats*--there were some more realistic depictions later in the section.
*It was just the opposite with sea monkeys. I was incredibly surprised and disappointed with they didnt' turn out to be little crown wearing, sceptre bearing, vaguely anthropoid sea creatures.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
I was 8 or 9. I think they wanted to get it out of the way well before puberty, and actually I think that was the right age for it.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
When I think about sex education, I think of it as a two-parter. There's the factual information which is obtained in a classroom setting or in "extra-credit" internet research for the curious and geeky. This is one-way information. I think there's more than enough of this in any decent school system.
But then there's the two-way approach to sex ed. I see alot of friends talking to friends for information and opinions. But in my personal experience, I didn't have "the talk" with my parents. My mother has actually gone out of her way, with a complete disregard for my health, to avoid a discussion about sex. The result for me was a negative image of sex, alot of misinformation, and a trip to the emergency room two weeks ago.
My point is if a game could bring parents back into the equation, then I'd buy a copy and then some. Otherwise, I can't see how it can top the sheer amount of information already more readily available.
Posts: 1733 | Registered: Apr 2005
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quote:I never asked any questions after reading the book they gave me, but I also still had absolutely no idea what sex actually was.
We obviously weren't given the same books.
My book described sex as a penis in a vagina and people rolling around in bed for two minutes until they get a tingly feeling. Or something along those lines. I really didn't understand what it WAS.
Perhaps I was a particularly dense child when it came to such matters.
quote:They are also working on a "christian" version of the game called Sex Can Wait, which focuses more on abstinence until marriage. I suppose you still wouldn't know exactly what it teaches until after you buy it.
Yup. Christians can disagree about just about anything, so I still wouldn't be able to trust the content.
I would probably be fine with such a game if it only dealt only with the biology of sex. I still don't think I'd find much value in it, but I wouldn't have problems with it.
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
If this were picked up by libraries, I'll bet that a lot of parents would check it out of see if it would be something that would work for their family. Has your girlfriend's company thought about contacting people within the library system to see if it's a title they'd be interested in picking up?
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
It would be funny if the game was an RPG. Say you could get your character to hae sex, but if it was unprotected sex, the character got an STD, fell down and died. Educational.
Posts: 1757 | Registered: Oct 2004
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quote:I'm 18 - if I was 14 (or at whatever age sex ed is taught)
I would hope that no parent would wait until 14.
My oldest was 9 when she got the whole picture. We sat down together, just she and I, in a room with a college anatomy book that was well illustrated and talked about everything from the changes her body would go through in puberty to conception and birth and we also covered STD's and the problems that can arise from pre-marital sex and ended it talking about what our religious beliefs say about sex.
My middle daughter got the basics a bit earlier, she wants to be a nurse when she grows up (and not we're not sexist, she knows she can be a doctor if she wants but she says she wants to be a mom and a gymnastics coach too and being a doctor takes too long and the hours are much worse than a nurses. She said instead, she'll just marry a doctor. ) so anyway, she asked a bunch of questions about where babies come from, etc, so she has gotten part of the talk already and knows about eggs and ovulation and pregnancy (she was much more interested in what happened AFTER conception than the act of sex itself.)
One thing about having boy/girl twins - the older kids have helped out with changing diapers, and they bathed together when they were smaller, so there is no doubt that every child knows about the physical differences between boys and girls.
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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quote:My book described sex as a penis in a vagina and people rolling around in bed for two minutes until they get a tingly feeling. Or something along those lines. I really didn't understand what it WAS.
My books went over that, but they also went into foreplay, emotional aspects and impact of sex, parts of the body and what they're for, oral sex, other sexual behaviors, different kinds of birth control, moral attitudes toward sex, etc., etc...
I really had no questions when I was done. My friends came to me with all their questions.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
I would find a game exceedingly awkward. But then, I don't know that there is a means of discussing such things with my children that would *not* be awkward. Actually... you know, I might get the game, give it to them, and tell them if they have any questions to feel free to ask their father.
It seems absurd to hear so many people love the idea of discussing these things with their kids (although I do think it's great). This is likely because I was not given a book, and nothing was discussed. Ever. Nor is it ever discussed now. Despite somehow getting herself pregnant five times, I am still not entirely certain my mother knows what sex is. And I would never ask to find out.
I had three older sisters, who presumably learned about "things" behind the barn in the schoolyard like everyone else, and it was expected that they would tell me what I needed to know when I needed to know it. I guess they did. I can't remember asking them anything, but I also can't remember ever wondering about anything.
Edit: Upon re-reading, "learning about things behind the barn in the schoolyard" sounds very dirty, so I wanted to clarify that I meant learning by *talking*. Just talking. All the best secrets were told behind the barn.
Posts: 624 | Registered: Mar 2005
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quote:My book described sex as a penis in a vagina and people rolling around in bed for two minutes until they get a tingly feeling. Or something along those lines. I really didn't understand what it WAS.
My books went over that, but they also went into foreplay, emotional aspects and impact of sex, parts of the body and what they're for, oral sex, other sexual behaviors, different kinds of birth control, moral attitudes toward sex, etc., etc...
I really had no questions when I was done. My friends came to me with all their questions.
See, I ended up going to one of my friends. HER parents had given her a book with DRAWINGS and a lot more specifics about puberty and sex and whatnot.
posted
I really liked the book I was given. It wasn't just a sex-ed book. It had a section for each major organ system -- skeletal, muscular, nervious, immune, etc.. Many of them had metaphorical illustraionts -- for the skeletal system it showed a humanoid skeleton made out of i-beams and girders, and for the muscular system it showed a bunch of ropes and pulleys on a simplified skeleton.
For the reproductive system, it had an illustration of a boy and a girl with their respective sexual organs. To show what intercourse was, it represented the people as these robot/machine-like things. The "man" had a boxy, non-descript body, a tiny brain and an enormous protrusion/penis. The woman had the same brain and the same body, but with a slot in her both the same size and shape of the penis.
It then showed the two tiny brains close to each other with a cute little heart, and it showed the man's penis/tab inside the woman's vagina/slot.
It managed to be both perfectly clear and not offend prudish sensibilites as the same time.
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
I think that the problem with this is that most of the groups that complain MOST about sexual content in video games are the same groups that have a very narrow (at least to me) view on human sexuality. I am not saying they can't think that, or even that their points are wrong....but merely pointing out that those same groups are not likely to approve an educational game that portrays any type of sexual contact they don't like.
And if the only thing shown conforms to their views, a lot of other groups will object to the exclusion of their lifestyles.
So I doubt this type of game will do anything to relieve any tention between the groups at all.
The only thing I like about this idea IS the idea that you can edit the types of questions. That would allow parents to discuss a lot of things without getting into an actual physical description of oral sex or foreplay.
It allows the parents to control what type of sex ed they want to provide.
Wouldn't want to give them any ideas, right? Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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