Think of it as the antidote to the wildly popular and shockingly violent “Grand Theft Auto” video game series, in which players beat up prostitutes and shoot cops.
A University of Maryland professor has helped create a computer game that aims to teach kids how to solve conflicts peacefully without bullying classmates ? or shooting enemies.
“Violence is what sells, but what about giving kids a fun alternative?” asked Melanie Killen, human development professor at the College Park campus.
“There?s no reason it has to be violent and killing people for it to be fun. Violent games might not make you go out and shoot someone, but will desensitize you to violence.”
“Cool School: Where Peace Rules” is a free computer game available online. In the game, 5- to 7-year-olds navigate a colorful world where they advise inanimate objects, such as smiling scissors and laughing basketballs, on how to settle 50 different fights without using fists.
Two students depicted as mallets, for example, argue over whose turn it is to play the xylophone.
Players have the option of threatening the peer, telling the teacher, forgetting about it or talking things through.
Choosing correctly ? to talk things out ? rewards players with letters so they can collect the alphabet and win.
Officials at the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, a government agency in Washington that mediates labor disputes, first hatched the idea of an anti-violence video game and devoted $1 million to the project.
The feds tapped gaming veteran F.J. Lennon, who?s created games for Disney, Mattel and “Sesame Street.”
“There?s always going to be conflicts, but if you get them on thefirst day of school, it might stick with them, and six years down the road, there might be less conflict and violence,” Lennon said.
A pilot of the game in Illinois schools drew rave reviews from kids, Killen said.
She had worked on the Arabic version of “Sesame Street,” which aired in the Middle East and helped change Jewish and Palestinian children?s views about stereotypes and whom they can befriend.
Killen?s 8-year-old son, Jacob, loves “Cool School.”
“It?s pretty funny,” he said.
