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Role Playing (Games)

Congress Slashes Funding for Peaceful Conflict Resolution Game 84

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the how-are-our-children-supposed-to-become-warriors-with-this dept.
In a departure from the usual video game setting a recent educational video game called "Cool School" was designed to teach kids peaceful conflict resolution. Unfortunately Congress has decided to slash the funding of this program that has been receiving rave reviews from the testers at schools in Illinois. "Cool School focuses on taking players through a school where just about everything (desks, books, and other objects) are alive and have their own personality. Over the course of ten levels and over 50 different situations designed by Professor Melanie Killen and then-doctoral student Nancy Margie (both of the University of Maryland). The primary goal of the game is to teach students how to solve social conflict through skills like negotiation and cooperation. During the title's development, Killen and Margie were able to work with some talented members of the video game industry, including independent developer F.J. Lennon and animator Dave Warhol." The game is now available as a free download and will play on both Mac OS X and Windows XP.

Feed Banned Venezuelan TV Stations Keeps Broadcasting... On YouTube (techdirt.com)

From feed by techdirtfeed
Someone who prefers to remain anonymous submitted this long first person account of what's happening in Venezuela with the shut down of a popular TV station by the government. The article explains the background, though, from an opinionated position. The political drama isn't all that interesting, to be honest (we're a tech blog, remember...), but in the middle of the article, it notes that the employees of the "shut down" TV station have simply moved on to broadcasting via YouTube -- and plenty of people are tuning in and showing their support. While broadcasting on YouTube may not be as powerful as being on the network, this does highlight how silly it is to think that a group or government or company can control the media these days. The tools are increasingly available to make sure that there are always alternate routes to get a message out.
Privacy

Submission + - British civil liberties film is released

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: BBC News has an article about a British film likely to attract the attention of civil liberties supporters. The film, "Taking Liberties", is a documentary about erosion of civl liberties in present-day Britain. From the article:

Director Chris Atkins wants Taking Liberties to shake the British public out of their apathy over what he sees as the dangerous erosion of traditional rights and freedoms. "This film uses shock tactics. We needed to be unashamedly populist... Once you give up traditional liberties such as free speech and the right to protest you are not going to easily get them back," says Atkins.
The film can be seen at cinemas in major cities. Will the film lead to privacy reforms in Britain, or will most of the viewing population just shrug and go home?

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