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Games Entertainment

Reducing Crime Through Gameplay 26

Posted by Zonk from the a-good-use-of-social-gaming dept.
Via Kotaku, a piece on Spong that sees games being put to good use in a social context. Edinburgh, Scotland police officers are using weekly PlayStation 2 tournaments with troubled youths as a way to bridge the gap between law enforcement and folks that (under less auspicious circumstances) they might have confrontations with. From the article: "The tournaments so far have been between members of the local Police Youth Action Team and a group of around 30 youths who are known regular offenders. Since the initiative started it seems to have had the effect of cutting crime in the locality quite dramatically. Officers dealt with 92 complaints in the month before the competition but only 53 while it was running. Ninety-three calls were received during the same period last year."
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Reducing Crime Through Gameplay More

Reducing Crime Through Gameplay

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  • Jack Thompson's head just exploded (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Universal Nerd ( 579391 ) on Friday January 20, 2006 @07:24AM (#14517815)
    The subject says it all...

    I really don't understand all the hatemongering about games, are people SO worried about "everybody elses's kids" that they ignore that teaching moral and ethics is the parents job?
    • I really don't understand all the hatemongering about games

      Games represent change. Some people don't like change. Games also offer a convienient scapegoat fro scoiety's ills, rather than placing the balme on the overall structure of that society.

      Also, the game industry doesn't do itself any favours by abusing sterotype to sell its product, but this could be said of any industry.
  • Whilst it's certainly great that such effort can help reduce youth crime, this program is part of a larger group of similar programs which is kind of starting to irritate me as a whole.

    The main concern here is not the result of these programs, but rather the idea that a lot of society's money is being spent on the "bad apples"; the criminal youth is in a way being rewarded for their past behaviour by giving them all kinds of stuff.

    It might just be nice, for a change, to organize something fun like this for
    • how would you go about organizing such a thing? "It's double tokens night next thursday at the arcade! Don't forget to submit for a background check before the cutoff date!"
    • I would hope that overall this is actually saving society money, by reducing damage from crime and the amount of police and court time spent dealing with it.

    • Re:Won't somebody think of the good kids? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Ibix ( 600618 ) on Friday January 20, 2006 @09:53AM (#14518335)
      It might just be nice, for a change, to organize something fun like this for the youth who actually haven't done anything criminal in their previous years; reward the good guys for a change.

      The point here is not to reward bad behaviour, but to encourage the interaction of the kids with the cops. It's harder for the kids to see the cops as faceless oppressors when they've met them as people.

      This is standard "wooly liberal" thinking. Engage with people, don't beat them over the head[1]. I'm always glad to see people practicing it: being a "wooly liberal" myself, I think it's a great strategy. I hope they're keeping careful track of it's results, because I'd like hard evidence to test the theory.

      I

      [1] Except when you're out of rail-gun ammo, of course... ;)

      • Well, likely the kids just took some time off, which they see as an investment into the ability to recognize good cop, bad cop on the street so they can later avoid the ones that have too high frag rate :) I would like to see the stats on police effectiveness in the year following this competition.

        These kids have usually poor education and all of them have a record of several transgressions or crimes, they have nothing or very little to lose in their lives and that is exactly how they are going to run th

        • I realise your first comment was made in jest, but I'll note for the record that "normal" police in the UK do not carry guns.

          These kids have usually poor education and all of them have a record of several transgressions or crimes, they have nothing or very little to lose in their lives and that is exactly how they are going to run their lives.

          Exactly. The argument goes that if you build relationships between "them and us", then they have something to lose - those relationships. That gives "us" some le

  • As soon as this gets popular, more kids will start commiting crimes on regular basis, just to be allowed to participate in the tournament :)
    • Kids who don't commit crimes probably already have friends to play games with. They don't need police officers to frag.
      The kids in TFA are probably lonely (that's one of the big causes for gang involvement), and they need an outlet.
      • Kids who don't commit crimes probably already have friends to play games with. They don't need police officers to frag.
        The kids in TFA are probably lonely (that's one of the big causes for gang involvement), and they need an outlet.

        "Idle hands are the devil's work". Surprise: giving kids something to do keeps them from coming up with things to do (crimes).

  • I know the Police here often have Rugby games with the local Motorcycle gangs for similar reasons. Computer games are a natural progression now they're played as much as more traditional sports.

    After all, it's hard to commit felonies and pwnz the local copper at the same time - unless the trash talking counts...

  • All child gamers need is this sort of guidance (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    [The following was my respose on Kotaku. I can't register on this site as /. won't seem to let me...]

    You would think that Edinburgh being home to Rockstar North, developer of the Grand Theft Auto series, that this would cause an uproar equal or similar to the negative reaction found all over the world. This is not the case though.

    Our local media concentrates more on the economical benefits of Scotland's gaming industy which of course owes most of its' success to Rockstar and GTA.

    As with the rest of the UK,
  • Adding other activities to this program. This may destroy my geekdom, but not all kids like video games. In fact, a number of them probably think they are "teh Ghey", and would rather be out impressing thier friends.

    Now that they have a valid starting point for gathering kids around a singular area, what about incorporating other options, like sports, or refitting abandoned cars, or something.
  • I would think that the games provide a good excuse for these kids to interact with the authority figures in a social way, rather than the way they normally do, adversarially. It's not so much the games that lower their chances of commiting further crime, but the way they now know and feel about the police.

    They likely get to know them on a personal basis. When faced with a choice to commit a crime and disappointing that "cool cop I fragged with last week" or walking away and doing something else, they choo
  • While I'm intrigued by the 50% drop, I can't help but wonder whether the number will remain stable over time. Right now the tournament is a welcome change, but what happens when people start tiring of it? It will probably be necessary to add new games and activities in order to keep the interest of the kids over a longer period of time.
  • Officers dealt with 92 complaints in the month before the competition but only 53 while it was running.

    haha, yeah, they were too busy playing videogames to respond.

  • Hmm...

    1. Take a bunch of violent and troublesome teens who have a lack of respect for authority.
    2. Have them engage in a highly competitive video game tournament against other teens with similar issues that would in no way cause increased levels of aggression.
    3.? ? ?
    4. Hilarity ensues...err...PROFIT!!!

    • 1. They're violent because they're bored. They have a lack of respect for authority because they have no authority to respect. Do you think these are kids with two responsible, caring parents at home?

      2. They're interacting with both authority figures (the police) and equals (other kids) in a way that promotes healthy competition with no need to carry it outside. Also, none of the video games they're listed as playing are violent games.

      3. The kids develop respect for the police, and friendly rivalries with t
      • How do you know they're violent because they're bored? If they didn't grow up with two responsible, caring parents at home, what makes you think they won't have violent tendencies for reasons OTHER than being bored?

        For most people, there would be no need to carry it outside, but even in tournaments against friends or professional athletes...there's ALWAYS the chance for it to turn ugly.

  • Increasing the interaction between police and troublesome teenagers in a way that doesn't involve getting searched for weapons is a Good Thing. In the US, there's a huge mistrust of police* in less affluent communities, and this sort of community policing could help educate a generation of kids to be less distrustful of the police. Hopefully, that would help to break part of the parent-to-child chain of low education, criminal activity, and other negative factors which keep poor families poor.

    * I realize
  • They are surprisingly easy to compare: drugs and games (or even television)

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