Tuesday 10 October 2017

Prototype Digital Narrative Game: #GenderEquality

Our Thought Process:
In just under 15 minutes, my partner Fatma Halawa and I came up with 5 topics that we could potentially create a digital narrative game about. Being that I'm obsessed with airplanes initially we suggested basing it around the PTSD that affects those who experienced a plane crash. Unfortunately, we felt that we would have a very limited number of scenarios to include and so the game would turn out boring if the audience attempts to play it more than once – so we dismissed the idea. Additionally, we thought of themes like PTSD for bomb survivors in Egypt, the daily struggles of a person with HIV/AIDS and the daily struggles of an illiterate person.  However, the one we decided to go through with revolves around the gender discrimination women in Egypt face from a young age up until they become full-grown, independent adults.
Intended Audience: The Patriarchal Egyptian Society – (In particular, Males and Children)
Purpose: To raise awareness for Egyptians on how their unfair treatment of females, their words, their unrepresentative stereotype-based beliefs and the dictated cultural gender roles, put females through hardships and emotional pain on a daily basis. Through this game, we believe it would not only make the players empathize with females in the Egyptian society but we hope it acts as a motive for males to take action and stop acting this way in order to reduce this dominant gender inequality and improve the females’ future. 
Note: We also think that this game can help females who experience severe discrimination to achieve their full potential by motivating them to change their fates as they see the outcomes of choosing the defying options.
Rough Storyline:
  • Toddler: (Setting: Playtime & father says pick a toy)
– Option A: Remote Control Car and Option B: A Baby Born – Based on the choice the father will either criticize the girl for choosing an inappropriate toy when the other will be more beneficial as she’ll grow up to be a mother (for A) or praise her for making the right choice as its good practice for when she’s a mother (for B).
  • Child: (Setting: School & teacher asks “What do you want to be when you grow up?”)
– Option A: Fireman, Option B: Teacher, Option C: Stay at home mom, Option D: Engineer, Option E: Nurse – Based on the choice the girl will hear either that this is not a job suitable for girls (for A and D) or it will encourage her as this is what girls are fit for because they are naturally nurturing and caring (for B, C and E).
  • High-school Student: (Home Desk: Studying – Father Enters and says it’s a waste of time you won’t do anything with a degree – you belong in your husband’s home)
– Option A: Stop Studying (Consequence: Get Bad Grades – Not Accepted into a good University) and Option B: Continue to Study Hard (Outcome: Achieve good grades – Get offered a scholarship) 
  • University Aged: (Living Room: Mother encourages daughter to look for a husband and get married soon)
-Option A: She agrees (Consequence: Pregnant at 20, social outcast and a University dropout) and Option B: She doesn’t (Outcome: Graduated with highest honors, great social life and getting job offers)
  • More scenarios like these would be added to cover the working woman, mother, divorced and old-age phases of the female’s life which lead to an outcome of two:
1 – Congrats on succeeding in life – you defied the odds and made decisions that shaped a strong, successful, independent woman.
2- Society has influenced your decisions which left your character unhappy, weak and dependent – just like they pictured you to be.

1 comment:

  1. Really interesting game idea, well done. I know my feedback will make this difficult, but do try to think of more complex scenarios and more realistic ones. For example, do women who get pregnant at 20 become social outcasts, or do unmarried women at 40 face social issues? These are both still within the gender issues, but the consequences of the decision are not black and white, so you can give people different options and each option can give them different results. We can discuss this more in class... with your colleagues later inshallah.

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