Beyond their purpose of entertaining and being technological-artistic expressions, the video game they are employed in areas that go beyond what their own community usually sees.
For example, there are titles designed for educational purposes and there are those that stimulate mental abilities. And there are other types of developments that under the veil of interactive entertainment address current issues and offer ways to prevent them.
It is the case of Hugin and munin, Mexican project led by students Carlos Eduardo Vidal Villeda, Zoé Jaret Abarca Aragón and Jesús Manuel Vargas Cruz, who propose a tool that deals with identify the possibility that a child is suffering from bullying or cyberbullying.
According to entrepreneurs, only 2 out of 10 children tell their parents that they are being victims of some type of cyberbullying. Therefore, the intention with Hugin and munin is to offer a striking story through a title that analyzes patterns of play, time and the use of tools available to identify important aspects of life.
The development was possible thanks to AT&T Foundry Mexico’s 30 Seconds for Mexico program and therefore we spoke with Arturo Barraza, director of the Center for Innovation and Technology Laboratories in that company, and Raúl Castillo, consultant, who said that the decision to bet on the project came from the conviction that methods such as going to the psychologist are not enough to detect problems in a child.
“Through the video game and the actions carried out, a database is being fed. In this way it is possible identify behaviors and extend help “, they argue before stating that they had advice from professionals in psychology during the development.
Hugin and munin it’s a RPG that is played for free from the web. Its premise is installed in Norse mythology and the name derives from the ravens that accompany the god Odin.
The plot detonates after Odin loses all of his powers and becomes a child like any other, causing him to come face to face with conflicts arising from common contexts, such as school and family. The visual style is retro and the mechanics are adjusted to the model Traditional RPG, with diverse interactions in the environment and windows for dialogue and decision-making.
It is important to clarify that, although anyone can enter the respective website and play Hugin and munin, the game is still in development, since it has the quality of prototype. At the moment there are two complete levels and the decision to do more will attend to the data that is collected in this period.