Russian scientist, professor Alexander Prokhorov, received a grant of the US Department of Defense. The amount is $ 3.7 million, the money is allocated for a video game that weaning American soldiers smoke. Development time – until 2011. Professor Prokhorov’s prototype is already ready – this is his third project, he has been working with games for 8 years. We phoned and found out what video games are needed by America, how much they smoke in alternative schools and why colored refrigerators will appear in the military units.
Training games – in America it is normally perceived? In Russia, "training game" is something third, released in addition to the blockbuster. Publishers often do this-they sell some hit, and a dozen PETZ 19 are in the load to it, which no one will take something, but it is necessary to release.
We started in 2001 and did not know how it would be perceived. There was a task – to make an interactive training program for children. Turn everything upside down, combine the game with prevention – the same smoking. In 2001, it was not even a game, but a program with game components. But it was a breakthrough. We were able to make both informing and well -accepted tools at the same time.
I am a researcher in the oncology center m. D. Anderson (one of the best and oldest medical centers in the country, is located in Houston.- Approx. "Gambling" ). He moved here in 1991-not because the union was so bad, but here it is so good-I am not an immigrant. I was invited to work, and the projects went so that they simply did not let go. And I stayed because I could make small revolutions here – at least in the field of Edutainment (derivative of the words "training" and "entertainment"). When I worked at the Center for Preventive Medicine in Russia, there were no such opportunities.
Here our first program allowed almost three times to reduce the number of smokers among children and adolescents. This is not to achieve any lectures. What you have, what we have – come to school, start talking about the dangers of smoking, the children will make sour faces: “We all know about it, what has come, that we have not seen black lungs?"
Really. And on packs, they write "the Ministry of Health warns …".
Yes, so there was no sense to warn, everyone is watching advertising. We decided to try the program on the most problematic audience – on students of alternative schools (this is an analogue of Russian correction classes). There is a very tense environment. I can't say that the prison, but this is very difficult schools. There, the youth passes through metal detectors, everyone is dressed in uniform, almost everyone is registered in a police station … If you behave inappropriately in an alternative school, then only to prison only to prison. Some forces this to restrain himself, sometimes someone even returns to ordinary schools. But in general, the contingent is still.
Children, as you know, are not the most Bright … Yes, they are not too quickly grasped, and we decided that if the game works there, then in ordinary schools it will work even more so and even more so.
In such a school, probably, any student smokes?
That's all the matter! When you come to a regular class and try to recruit a group of smokers, the children usually do not say that they smoke, they are afraid that parents will recognize. And there is nothing to be afraid of this – their parents know a lot of things and worse. It was a surprise for me: it was worth asking in an alternative class who smokes, how a quarter of students immediately raised their hands.
As a result, we conducted a six -month study. We had 239 students, and more than half – 53% – abandoned. Then we did not have the opportunity to check their answers, but to lie-in their position! – They were absolutely pointless.
Than you scared them so?
You will not scare them. Schoolchildren have no serious reasons to quit smoking-health is still a horse. Tell them about cancer at an older age, about stillborn children, scare the statistical data – for them all this is boring. "Cancer in an older age" is for them in a hundred years.
The teenage mass is heterogeneous. We try to make the child get only the information that is interesting to him. Someone, for example, plays basketball-jumps high, but there is not enough breath. “This is tobacco,” we say. – With cigarettes, never become a famous athlete ". And someone recently died a relative from lung cancer-this student should tell about the fact that exhausted smoke burns mucous membranes and t.D.
The game for schoolchildren is called Escape with your life (“Choose from here alive”), this is a flash-arcade lasting 40-45 minutes, but the children always ask to play again.
The schoolboy himself creates a hero, telling the game his age, gender, ethnicity. When the character is ready, we ask if a person smokes or not. If he says that he smokes, we ask if he wants to quit. He usually says that he does not want, and then we send him on a trip to the clinic.
The game is based on motivation. We don't say: “Yeah, you smoke? Throw in a week!»We, on the contrary, say that smoking is normal. Many smoke and cannot or do not want to quit – and this is also normal.
Here is our hero appears in the clinic-opens his eyes, sees doctors, wanders along endless corridors, gets into the elevator … The elevator buttons are signed-emergency room, radiology, roof, landing platform for a helicopter … The most popular is the most popular-surgery-surgery. There you can look into the operating room and watch a video of this operation, during which the patient is removed part of the light, affected by cancer. We did not really believe that it would pass – I thought the children would be scary, disgusting, they would not look. But they are a bill of charge: “Very good,” they say. – Interesting. Come on again ".
Somehow I can’t believe that simple videos can be forced to quit smoking someone.
There is a common opinion that knowledge does not change behavior. But it all depends on the depth of knowledge. Those children who build acidic mines, when you speak with them about tobacco course, have no idea why smoking is harmful. You ask: “Smoking is bad?"Answer:" Yes, bad ". And when you ask what is bad, they cannot explain Gxmble sister sites.
And our game gives a complete picture with an illustration, and not just with photographs, like on packs of cigarettes, but with a video. Moreover, living people say there – not tedious uncles in robes, but their peers and celebrities – Tony Hawk, for example (we are familiar with him). For kids from rural areas, we have Jeff Bagwell, a very famous baseball player. He tells why there is no need to chew tobacco – in America this is another big problem. And the game acts! The effect is the same as if Arshavin said: "With cigarettes, I would never have become a good football player, because …"
Escape with your life is still popular?
Yes, and not only she. Escape with Your Life is our first full -scale video game. And before her there was a program with game components, flash game Aspire (A smoking prevention Experience, www2.Mdanderson.ORG/DEPTS/Aspire/SITE.HTML ).
Aspire is supported by schools and medical institutions – more than 200 organizations in 16 states. It is also available from Russia. It consists of three parts – at first children answer questions about tobaccohics, then play, face different people in different life situations, and then again pass the test. There are few correct answers in the first test. But in the game they are told how cigarettes are made, how tobacco companies are manipulated by public opinion, how many people are dying of tobacco. At the end of the game, they are much more subsidized, and if they answer correctly by 70% of the questions and more, we give them a certificate. It can be printed and hung on the wall – this motivates schoolchildren.
They generally take our game very seriously. Some even ask why tobacco is still legal. And I myself don't know. 7 million people in the world per year die from the use of various chemicals. Of these seven million 26% dies from alcohol, 3% – from illegal drugs. Remaining (almost 5 million people a year!) die from tobacco. And if you look at social advertising, then everywhere they shout about illegal drug trafficking, and they are silent about tobacco. And tobacco companies only use this. Listen to them, they say that drugs are evil, and tobacco, in general, is a legal product. As by the way, in Russia with smoking? When I left, there were pot -bellied uncles in training around, which smoked Belomorkanal.
And now they are smoking. Do not go to the restaurant.
I myself smoked earlier, but as I started to study, I quit. Inconvenient in front of children – they smell. They ask: “What do you force us to throw us, and carries you tobacco from you?"
And in Russia, I heard many doctors work under the sponsorship of tobacco companies?
Judging by what is happening in the country, they probably work. And parents are not indignant that because of your games, children sit at the computer for a long time?
Our games are short … But in general, we have a whole epidemic in the field of public health – adolescents get used to games as nicotine. They spend a crazy number of hours behind the monitor without any parental control. I don't know how you have parental control, but our situation is very difficult. The computer replaces the nanny.
I guarantee you, our situation is even worse than in America, because the vast majority of parents in Russia simply do not know how to use a computer.
I'm not even saying that the parent should know what his child is doing there with a computer. It is enough for the child to be told: today you sit at the computer for two hours, and then I turn it off. This is not, and as a result, children form a terrible dependence. They sit at night, at school the next morning they did not want anything but to sleep, there is no talk of any studies, they are sluggish, irritated.
And you somehow fight this?
I personally lost the struggle with my child. I have a daughter, she is 23 years old, and she does not think of her existence without a computer. All the computers that we have in the house, she occupied – and what can I do?
Of course, she graduated from the designer college and receives money for illustrations, laying websites. But because of this work, she spends some unhealthy amount of hours behind the monitor.
People try, of course, to buy new computers, large monitors, but what's the point, because you sit motionless all day, hunch, eyes look at one point. And netbooks with screenwriters of 8-9 inches? Yes, it is very convenient to carry them with them, but they are also ruining both their eyes, and all in the world.
And at the same time, the US Ministry of Defense decided to swell $ 3.7 million on a video game, which will wean a soldier to smoke? They have nowhere else to put money? It may be better to give for rehabilitation treatment?
They know better where to get into the money, but where not. There were 40 on our grant (!) applicants from various US universities. Each participant provided a detailed description of his scientific project with the budget and justification. Projects touched on a variety of topics. A group of independent experts, hired by the Pentagon, studied these projects and chose one – ours – as the most promising.
You forget that the army smokers will return to the citizen in a year or two and will continue to spoil their health, their loved ones and others. They should know that smoking is not only a proven cause of chronic diseases and lung cancer, but, for example, impotence in men and infertility in women.
Cigarettes become more expensive every year, and few realize that, having abandoned smoking, you can afford a cool TV or even a car in a few years. Throwing smoking, the young man stops paying tribute tobacco corporations and significantly improves the quality of his life.
You will also offer soldiers at the clinic to run? After all, twenty -year -olds serve in the army. They can’t convince them that they don't know something about tobacco. And they have a lot of arguments: the army is stress, went not to serve from a good life … And then some man comes with a toy and begins to drip them on their brains: “Let's quit smoking, quit”. From what on earth? Smokers will send to the penal battalion?
The army has long paid attention to the problem of smoking. There is a medical center at the military base in Texas, where soldiers are helped to quit smoking, they give the right drugs, chewing gum, patcharies – quit do not want. Many do not want to – with stress, as you say, are fighting. And some try to quit and cannot. They get used to the cigarette. In the land army, 46% of men and 25% of women smokes-this is more than in the navy or in the air forces. There are many reasons for that – not only stress, for example, but also a lower level of education.
With the help of games, we will let people understand that without tobacco they will be physically healthier, and the service process will be easier. Who is the last to run in a cross? Smoker, and then giggle over him. Who is worse calculating the path of the projectile? Smoker. You know that the carbon monoxide in the cigarette is associated with hemoglobin very quickly, much faster than oxygen. As a result, part of the blood practically turns off from the process of transferring oxygen to tissues, which means that the brain of oxygen gets less.
We want to convey one single thought: if they quit smoking, they will simply be the best soldiers. These are not words – they will notice it themselves. What can a game? She cannot change you, but can tell you, find the problem. People who threw many times no longer believe that they will succeed. And we will analyze all previous attempts and show how to find a way out. This is some kind of soft conviction.
That is, this is the same arcade as Escape with your life, only executed in the form of a test?
Yes, in fact it is a quest with an extensive plot – depending on what answer the soldier gives, it redirects it to one or another location. It turns out the sequence of game situations that are useful to this particular person.
Maybe he does not want to quit smoking, but the game will be interested in him because it is a game. If you give him a brochure, he will throw it out without opening it – the brochure in the army is full. But there are no games, so they will reach for the machine. The game is designed for 30 minutes, and depending on how you feel about smoking, you will need to play 3-4 times.
And this machine will look like a payment terminal or even … like a refrigerator?
We specifically chose such a form for him. After all, slot machines are very common: when a person sees such a refrigerator with a joystick, something clicks in his head and he goes to play.
And you do not think that for the soldiers such a refrigerator is the last century? He might be able to lure schoolchildren with bright colors, but adults … that they did not see modern games?
Well, of course, the project for soldiers will look at all like a game for schoolchildren. I understand that technologies are quickly obsolete and we must chase progress. We will have a new engine, new graphics. Another game for schoolchildren was from a third person, and we will do this from the first.
And it will take $ 3.7 million? NASA was going to make a full online game about the study of space with this money.
No, the game itself costs much less. We do not inflate the staff – 6 designers, I myself throw an interface, characters, write music at home. We also guys from the studio Radiant Creative They help a lot. And the super -engine is useless.
Big money should be tracked whether the soldier quit smoking. We do not need a momentary result – we need so that a person does not take up a cigarette either a month or in two. After all, the biggest problem is not that people do not quit smoking. Throw. But then they start again. We will observe the soldiers during the year – measure the content of carbon monoxide in exhaled air, for example. And if we receive evidence based on scientific data, then the game will continue – in all army units of the United States. I was very inspired by experience with alternative schools.
You yourself play on a computer?
I play PSP – I have a lot of all kinds of shooters and shitty. True, I play not because I am very interesting, but to find out what is happening in the computer world. We recently introduced achievement tables – and schoolchildren began to spend more time for Escape with Your Life. The spirit of rivalry is in our hands-it seems to them that they play so that so many points to score and rise higher, but in fact they study.
And how do you like modern games?
Most of the games that I see in America are destructive by nature. To win, you must destroy something. Games, where to win something to create, open something, produce, almost do not do. One or two comes across, but they are driven into the far corner of the counter with all sorts of Vice City, where the mat-rendem, the faces of each other beat each other ..
I am trying to conduct the idea that it is necessary to create constructive games, where you can create something, instead of destroying. I know that you have a great base of games developers, you are producing amazing projects, yes? But again, only destructive games reach ..
You are serious? On the contrary, we believe that America in the sense of games ahead of the planet of the whole. And it is probably better not to say anything about our gaming industry. For all the time after the collapse of the Union, we have God forbid two worthy games that were well sold in the West. The rest is all sorts of low -budget games, invented mainly in order to pull money out of the investor.
And you will not have a team that will be interested in Escape with your life? It would be very, very interesting for me to cooperate with Russian specialists. True, the program needs to not only be translated, but also localized … For example, we have a lot of Afro-American heroes, for Russia we need to make more white models. Well, give Russian statistics, of course. Who is interested in American data? In the 70s, we were always given an example of how that arranged in America-it was very annoyed.
And now they bring. Your economy is more stable, the whole state is not arranged as an example better than our.
You think so. And here we are not at all happy about whom our state in 2001 presented the country in the form of the president. We hope Obama will fix everything. Let there be more cooperation, less suspicion. I am watching TV (I have five Russian channels) – and I'm sad. Here people understand little about Russia, in Russia they understand little about America.
Even in the development of games, we differ from you: we have to consider that some cannot read. In Russia, of course, there is no such problem, but here we are forced to integrate some kind of voice help-and where to go, if you read the problem? This is not because schools are taught so badly, just a lot of migrant children from Latin America. The same problem is in Germany-they do not know what to do with migrants. But it is precisely among migrants that smoking flourishes – in the ghetto this is the norm.
For migrants, the game is made?
Most likely, yes. A whole direction is now appearing in the United States – people create games for asthmatics, for burn centers – they help to switch the patient's attention.
In our center, I already said, our development block is being created – we will portle our games on smartphones, on iPhone. Just click on the App Store button download – and download. I think they will be free because the one who needs our game most, most often cannot buy it.
And if the conversation came about money … in my opinion, the game industry is not too profitable. Huge money must be invested in a good game, and there is no guarantee that they will return. The same Vice City, maybe I caught the courage, but I know many other games that cost millions, but did not even pay off.
Our initiatives rest on one: for the game to enjoy commercial success, it is necessary that it contains destructive elements. You can't make a lot of money with a creative game (and The Sims No exception – how much destructive is there!).
I know there was a game that helped children fight overweight. It was called Eyetoy: Kinetic. Cost $ 50, I bought – just see how it works. There are a variety of exercises, from ordinary charging to yoga, I really liked. But she didn't go. Well, at least that WII FIT goes.
I understand that now developing games that promote a healthy lifestyle is the right path to bankruptcy. It is still difficult for us to compete with ordinary shooters and shitting, and the chances of commercial success in our games are still small. But this is not a hopeless direction – new games about smoking and other behavioral risk factors we will do at the most modern level.
And there is one exception. If the Ministry of Defense see that your game helps people – for example, quit smoking and not smoking for the rest of their lives – they will finance it, and spread, and advertise it.
