‘Aiyo Alice’, a game changer
“In the game ‘Aiyo Alice’ when Andy has to pass through the train carriage we see a group of people who are sick and not wearing masks. They are also not following COVID-19 health guidelines such as maintaining social distance.” “Andy is able to pick up masks on the way and even get a health boost to keep his health levels high and zip past the people. When he wears the mask, we can see that his health is protected!” That is what the official website for “Aiyo Alice”, a game developed by Minor Matters, a movement dedicated to fostering religious harmony and protecting the freedom of religion or belief in Sri Lanka, states.
According to Google Playstore, and the seven-member team behind the development of Aiyo Alice, the game is the first of its kind.
The main objective of developing it was to bring about positive change and educate children and youth about tough topics such as discrimination, bullying, cyberbullying, fake news and hate speech.
In the long run, the team’s goal is to provide a practical and innovative solution to these problems that persist online, on social platforms from Facebook to TikTok and other social media apps.
After “Aiyo Alice” was released on Google Playstore in July, it was trending for a few days, and Jashan Jegasothy, the Legal Research Assistant for the team, said they were really happy with the feedback they received.
In the game, players have to journey across “virtual” Sri Lanka, taking up the role of Andy, an older sibling who is always getting his mischievous little sister, Alice, out of trouble. Players must bring the characters back home
soon before Andy and Alice get into trouble with their mother. Along the way, the characters, and of course the players, meet different people from diverse backgrounds.
“Aiyo Alice” belongs to a new genre of online gaming called ‘Games for Social Change’, which according to the non-profit “Games for Change” aims to “drive real-world impact through games and immersive media.”
Since Minor Matters began after the 2017 Digana and Akurana riots, the team behind the game realised that training programmes, workshops and toolkits can only reach a certain number of people. To reach a wider audience, especially given that Sri Lanka has a rapidly growing young population, the team needed to get creative and “think outside the box.”
So they reached out to Motion Miracles, a local game development company, to help them create a game that would make important issues relevant to young people in Sri Lanka.
According to the team “Aiyo Alice” is one of the first such games for social change that was developed within Sri Lanka.
Team member Akshina said that Minor Matters wants to “continue to contribute to social change in Sri Lanka, through Aiyo Alice and maybe other games and initiatives.”
“Aiyo Alice” can be downloaded via Google Play Store and also Apple App Store. For more info on the game check out https://www.aiyoalice.com/.