Classroom game teaches ethical decision making
Would you steal brains? USC Annenberg School for Communication associate professor Doug Thomas hopes to pose the question to tweens through his upcoming edutainment release Modern Prometheus. The game pits players as Dr. Frankenstein's lovely assistant, tasked with a number of difficult ethical questions, like: Steal brains outta the local cemetery to cure the plague or politely leave the dead to rest and soon join them?
Modern Prometheus takes just one hour to 'beat,' but gameplay is theoretically extended through both classroom and informal discussion (Thomas seems certain grave robbing could be a hot lunchroom topic). Actually getting Modern Prometheus into schools is the hard part, but Thomas hopes that by teaming with another edutainment developer, Indiana University professor Sasha Barab, and promoting through mediums like Second Life, he can work his game into middle school curriculum by springtime. "It's not Halo 3," says Thomas, "but for the age group we are working with now it's pretty good."
