UNFPA Game to Prevent Violence Against Women
*Visit our Empowering Play Project Site and Team Blog
for more detailed information.*
In partnership with the Population Media Center and at the request of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the Emergent Media Center is designing and delivering a game to address the issue of violence against women (VAW). This project is in the research and conceptual phase. The proposed goal of this undertaking is to bring the changing world of electronic media to bear on the public health and human rights crises impacting women. Students, faculty and staff involved with the project voyaged to Cape Town, South Africa in August 2008, where they began their research and cultural exploration.
Concept art by Keith Tatarczuk
Students & Alumni:
- Dan Bergeron - Researcher
- Heather Conover - Designer
- Brian George - Lead Designer
- Bryan Hare - Programmer
- Casey Hopkins - Researcher
- Amanda Jones - Researcher
- Wesley Knee - Artist
- Nichole Magoon - Researcher
- Lauren Nishikawa - Lead Designer
- Jaimie Olmstead - Artist
- Alex Schwartz - Artist
- Keith Tatarczuk - Artist
- Robert Witbeck - Designer
- Bill Wixon - Programmer
- Ashley Bessette - Researcher
- Nick Malutama - Artist
- Kate Baxter - Programmer
- Chris Matuszek - Artist
- Brandon Phoenix - Artist
- Joel Pelletier - QA
- Max Nichols - Designer
- Dipika Gupta - Programmer
- Josh Audibert - Programmer
Champlain College Faculty & Staff:
- Dr. Megan Frenzen - Faculty Advisor, Research
- Dr. Elaine Young - Faculty Advisor, Marketing
- Heather Kelley - Creative Director
- Ken Howell - Artistic Technical Director
- Michael Lange - Faculty Consultant, Anthropology & Folklore
- Erik Esckilsen - Faculty Advisor, Narrative
- Josh Buck - Faculty Advisor, Art & Animation
- Lauren Nishikawa - Junior Creative Director
Collaborators:
- Dr. Steffen P. Walz - game design & technology consultancy and workshop
- David Bird- Founder & President of Sawol, a soccer brand & company
- Scott Mapes - Vermont delegate to US Soccer Federation
- Raymond de Villiers - CEO of Wisdom Games
- Tino Kreutzer - UCT Centre for Film & Media Studies, mobile phone usage research
- Luyanda Kota & Joy Olivier of IkamvaYouth - empowering youth through education
- Sinethemba Secondary School - Philippi Township, Cape Town, South Africa, primary research/interviews
- Sizwe Matoti & Youth Empowerment Project (YEP Clan) - Khayelitsha, Cape Town, South Africa, encouraging leadership, opportunity and growth for youth
- Matthew Kalil & Thabo Ashley Mvumvu - Scriptwriter and Filmmaker from UCT
- Leighton Forbes & Bishop's Preparatory School - Rondebosch, Cape Town, South Africa, primary research/focus groups
- Steve Vosloo - Shuttleworth Foundation, social policy and innovation through education and technology
- Marion Walton - UCT Centre for Film & Media Studies, literacy, technology accessibility, and game/web user experience research
- Gary Marsden - UCT Department of Computer Science, mobile technology interaction design
- Canda Kincses - Nice-nice Productions, Animation SA, producer for Breakdesign, a company that specializes in cell phone gaming
- Emma Harvey - Counselor at Rape Crisis Cape Town
Tossing and turning in bed, half asleep, I turned over to where my sister slept about two feet away in the other twin bunk bed.