April 28, 2007
Mobile phone game developed to combat culture shock
A mobile phone game developed by academics at the University of Portsmouth will be used to help international students cope with 'culture shock' and university life in Britain - including moments of cultural awakening such as going to the pub and watching people being affectionate to each other in public.
The game - called C-Shock - is the brainchild of University of Portsmouth academic and games technology expert Nipan Maniar (picture left) who, himself, arrived in the UK from India five years ago as an international student.
"I found some aspects of British culture very novel, and certainly things such as interacting socially with others, say, in a pub were very different to what I was used to in my own culture in India," Nipan said.
The game follows an international student arriving in the UK for the first time. The aim of the game is to reduce the character's 'culture shock' rating from a default of 100 to zero by performing a series of tasks that introduce culture shock-inducing incidents and images.
... The game is in the final stages of development and is expected to be available for download from the University of Portsmouth website later this year.
[Press release via The Inquirer]
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