Many people playing video games today remember the educational
games given to us in elementary school. There were plenty of options to learn
how to type, and there were plenty of science games that weren’t enjoyable
whatsoever. Rubberkid, a game for children, aims to teach children how to deal
with bullies. Kids play as Rubberkid, the titular hero, who dons a suit made
out of rubber bands. His suit is used to bounce insults back at the bullies who
threw them, thus protecting the intended targets.
Charlie Jackson, the developer of Rubberkid, is the creator of
The Critterverse: a website full of games for children. With his newest game,
Charlie plans to use his established art style and characters to teach kids
valuable life skills. I recently sat down with him over Skype to learn more
about the game and his overall mission.
Have you done any research
with kids, such as hands-on game time, or anything like that?
Just barely. Not in person or anything but I’ve had some people
play it online and say that they liked it.
So, it went well?
Yeah, yeah, they’ve liked it so far. The only comments I’ve
really gotten on it so far were from one of the anti-bullying groups, and they
didn’t like the way I worded things. They don’t like the term “anti-bullying”
(they like bully prevention), and that kind of thing. But, I’m not too worried
about that part.
Will any of those proceeds
go to those bully prevention charities?
I was actually working on that. That’s what I was talking to them
about, but they work with bigger names. So, I haven’t found anyone that would
be willing to take the contributions. Instead, I’m using [the money] to promote
it to libraries and schools. Such as mailing CD’s to them to rent out, that
kind of a thing. That’s where the main proceeds are going to go: promoting it
and getting [Rubberkid] into peoples’ hands.
With more gripping and
intense games out there, do you think kids will get bored of Rubberkid?
That’s the reason it’s so short. The whole game can be played in
about half an hour. Total, finishing all nine levels of the game. Between that,
and the fact that there’s two different kinds of levels in the game (the
regular style and a Pong style). None of the levels take more than a minute or
two to finish. So, if someone were to play through and not die, which is the
goal anyway, all of the game would be done in about fifteen minutes. So,
hopefully, no.
When I was a kid, if I was
told to play an educational video game, I would half ass the whole thing. Do
you think kids will actually play this and absorb the message fully?
I think so. It does fit in with a whole bunch of other games that
are more primarily aimed at fun. The Critterverse is mostly filled with silly
games, not real education. This is the first one that’s more on the educational
side of things. The goal [of Rubberkid] being that they dive into the gameplay
pretty quickly, and, really, the parts that are anti-bullying can be skipped
pretty easily. It’s just an “OK” button once you’re done reading it; there’s no
quiz or anything. So, hopefully, it doesn’t get too boring for anybody.
With a game like this, do
you worry that a child might learn something from this, go to the playground,
stand up to a bully, and get hurt?
That’s always a concern. Anytime anyone stands up to a bully it’s
possible they will get hurt. I really hope not; that would be one of the worst
case scenarios. But, the aim of the game is to get kids to not bully one
another, not to stand up [to a bully]. We want kids to not be active listeners.
Maybe the second a child does start getting bullied if they are up to fighting
back, they won’t laugh, and they’ll just walk away and ignore the bully.
Many people out there seem to think Charlie is on to something:
the Kickstarter page for Rubberkid is almost fully funded. Hopefully, the game
will go a long way in helping out kids who feel threatened.
Interview by Chris Lohr
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Chris Lohr is a freelance writer currently in film school. If you’re
looking for him to write for your website, manifesto, or Russian bride
catalogue, send an email to puddinginasock@gmail.com. Put today’s
date as the subject line and include a picture of yourself. Must be DDD free
and willing to host. All Articles by Chris.
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