Mobile phone game to support youngsters

TECHNOLOGY is being used by police to support youngsters – thanks to a first-of-its-kind mobile phone game.

A group of 20 students at Frederick Gough are to become testers for a role-playing educational game which they will download direct to their phones.

The game, which has been designed by Sgt Ian Hodson of Humberside Police, takes players through a series of serious scenarios where they must make life-changing choices.

Sgt Hodson said: "The idea is that it's a fun way of looking at serious issues, it could be compared to The Sims (a 3D role-playing game), as the kids devise their own character and make a series of choices.

"The game features bars which measure the positive and negative consequences of their actions and the aim is to keep the positive one full.

"I'm sure at first they'll take all the bad decisions just to see what will happen but that's fine because they'll be able to learn about the consequences."

The programme is the first of its kind to be used by any UK police force and the lucky 20 pupils will get to sample it for the first time next week.

They are among 100 students across Humberside who are part of the trial. Provided it is successful, it will roll out throughout Frederick Gough and potentially to other schools in December.

Ben Lawrance, head at Frederick Gough, gave his support for the scheme.

"Technology is the conduit that teenagers use the most for communicating so I think the idea of putting the game on a mobile phone makes complete sense," he said.

While the game is not designed for use within school hours, the school has worked closely with police to organise the trial.

An exact date for downloading has not been confirmed, but the trial is to begin this week.

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