REPLAY PROJECT
Gaming Technology Platform for Social Reintegration of Marginalised Youth
Francisco Ibáñez
Brainstorm Multimedia, S.L, Valencia, Spain
James Playfoot
Whiteloop Limited, London, U. K.
Maria Elena Fabregat
InnovaTec S&C, S.L, Alcoi, Spain
Maria Costa, Sonia Torres
Toy Research Institute – AIJU, Valencia, Spain
Carmen Cretu
University A.I. Cuza, Iasi, Romania
Keywords: Replay, Re-education, Gaming platform, Virtual reality, Marginalised youth.
Abstract: The aim of European Commission founded project REPLAY is to develop a gaming technology platform to
provide young people who have become marginalised in society as a result of anti social behaviour with a
learning environment to facilitate their reintegration into society. Although scalable to a range of
marginalised groups such as immigrants, children with learning disabilities, retirees etc, REPLAY will
focus on the education and reeducation of young people whose behaviour might be a problem for the
communities in which they live.
The project is funded by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme. It is a
collaboration between seven partners in Spain, Romania and the UK. The coordinating partner is
Brainstorm Multimedia, a technology company based in Valencia. Brainstorm lead the game development
phase of the project. Innovatec, an SME based in Alicante, provides an innovative balance board interface
into the game technology platform. AIJU, a toy research institute also based in Alicante, offers feedback
throughout the process on the efficacy of the game. Alexander John Cuza University is the oldest academic
institution in Romania: the Centre for Applied Research in Education participate in all phases of work.
White Loop, a London based consultancy, contributes with particular focus on measuring the social and
organisational impact of the game. Alongside three 'testbeds': in Romania, Rotalent, an NGO involved in
exploring how giftedness affects behaviour and marginalisation; in Spain, the El Cerezo Day Centre, a
facility whose main objective is to help reintegrate troubled young people back into society through actively
encouraging the development of social capabilities and values; and Woolwhich Polytechnic School in UK
participating as a volunteer organisation
In the paper we establish the main requirements in the design of the gaming paltaform based on experts
opinions obtained in semi-in-depth interviews and Focus Groups. The gaming platform has been developed
based on these requirements and it is under evaluation by the end users and review by experts from the
European Commission.Innovation, technology, research projects, etc.
489
Ibáñez F., Playfoot J., Elena Fabregat M., Costa M., Torres S. and Cretu C. (2010).
REPLAY PROJECT - Gaming Technology Platform for Social Reintegration of Marginalised Youth.
In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Computer Supported Education, pages 489-495
DOI: 10.5220/0002861804890495
Copyright
c
 SciTePress

1 INTRODUCTION
The aim of European Commission funded project
REPLAY is to develop a gaming technology
platform to provide young people who have become
marginalised in society as a result of anti social
behaviour with a learning environment to facilitate
their reintegration into society. Although scalable to
a range of marginalised groups such as immigrants,
children with learning disabilities, retirees etc,
REPLAY will focus on the education and
reeducation of young people whose behaviour might
be a problem for the communities in which they live.
The project is funded by the European Commission
under the 7th Framework Programme. It is a
collaboration between seven partners in Spain,
Romania and the UK. The coordinating partner is
Brainstorm Multimedia, a technology company
based in Valencia. Brainstorm lead the game
development phase of the project. Innovatec, an
SME based in Alicante, provides an innovative
balance board interface into the game technology
platform. AIJU, a toy research institute also based in
Alicante, offers feedback throughout the process on
the efficacy of the game. Alexander John Cuza
University is the oldest academic institution in
Romania: the Centre for Applied Research in
Education participate in all phases of work. White
Loop, a London based consultancy, contributes with
particular focus on measuring the social and
organisational impact of the game and developing
pedagogically sound contents. The project has also
established three 'test beds' across Europe: in
Romania, Rotalent, an NGO involved in exploring
how giftedness affects behaviour and
marginalisation; in Spain, the El Cerezo Day Centre,
a facility whose main objective is to help reintegrate
troubled young people back into society through
actively encouraging the development of social
capabilities and values; and Woolwich Polytechnic
in UK, a large technology school in South East
London, who are participating as a volunteer
organisation.
2 CONTEXT
Anti-social behaviour is a significant issue in all
developed societies. In countries like the UK, anti-
social behaviour amongst young people is a political
as much as a social issue. There are many measures
in place across Europe that aim to deal with
instances of anti-social behaviour, many of which
mirror the approach taken to adult crime. This means
a mixture of penalising the offender through a
variety of punitive measures and attempting to
engage offenders in programmes of rehabilitation.
Furthermore, anti-social behaviour is seen largely as
the ‘first stage’ towards an individual becoming
involved in criminal activity when they are older:
there is, as it were, a rising scale of behaviour that
begins with low level anti-social behaviour in school
and can end in serious or violent crime.
Within this context, a view has emerged that
resources should be increasingly focussed on
identifying and addressing individuals with
behavioural problems as early as possible. A
significant body of evidence suggests that by dealing
effectively with children and young people who
display low-level anti-social behaviour, there is a
greater likelihood that these children will avoid
falling into criminal activity as they get older.
Enabling children to understand why they behave in
the way they do, and then helping them break their
behavioural patterns, can be hugely beneficial to the
individual, the school and the community.
Alongside the paradigm of anti-social behaviour is
the emergence, over the last 10-15 years, of
pervasive technology and, within that context, the
profound popularity of video games. Many studies
indicate that the level of interaction between young
people and video games – i.e. those who play these
games regularly – is around 90% if you look at an
age range of 10-14 year olds. As the technology has
developed, these games have become more
immersive in terms of graphics, sound and narrative
and, with the emergence of the Nintendo Wii, more
engaging in terms of physical game play.
Furthermore, engagement with video games is
particularly high amongst those with behavioural
problems, as gaming can provide a sense of control
and freedom to the player that they may struggle to
experience in other parts of their lives. Many
products are now emerging within the serious
gaming paradigm. However, at this stage, the
majority of serious games for children and young
people are focussed on a traditional notion of
teaching and learning: there are serious games to
teach geography, maths, languages, chemistry etc.
The acknowledgement of how positively many
young people respond to a gaming environment and
the associated benefits this can bring to the learning
process are well documented. However, thus far, this
approach has not be applied to the field of behaviour
change. It is here that the REPLAY game sits.
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3 MAIN REQUIREMENTS AN
THE DESIGN OF THE GAMING
PLATFORM
In identifying the main requirements of the
REPLAY game, the consortium worked closely with
user groups and experts at every stage to answer
several questions. These questions, and the
responses we received, are outlined below. Answers
were obtained through consultation with those
working with children that demonstrate anti-social
behavioural problems or are perceived as ‘at risk’ in
the future and could be marginalised or excluded as
a result. We also worked with children to better
understand what they liked in the video games they
played, what elements engaged them and why they
chose to play the games they play. This was vital in
informing the ‘playability’ of the game. We engaged
all users and experts in Focus Groups and semi-in-
depth questionnaires in order to obtain the essential
feedback that enabled us to develop the gaming
platform in such a way that the needs and
requirements of the experts working with children
were met and the gaming tendencies and interests of
the children and young people were supported.
3.1 What Type of Tool should
REPLAY be?
There was considerable debate throughout the focus
groups sessions as to whether the REPLAY game
should be designed primarily as a therapeutic tool –
i.e. something that, in of itself, can address
behavioural issues and effect change – or rather as
an assessment tool – i.e. something that helps
professionals better understand the young person
with behavioural problems and, in doing so, helps
them address these issues. The ability of a tool like
this to be successful as a therapy is viewed as
ambitious, particularly in addressing issues in older
children. It would be very challenging to write the
game contents in such a way that, on its own, the
game could educate and change the behaviour of a
player. However, there is, it seems, an opportunity to
use the game to create an opportunity for open and
honest dialogue between player and professional and
that, in so doing, that could lead to positive
therapeutic outcomes. This is something we
considered in the design of the game and the
authoring of the game contents.
In thinking about the game as an assessment tool,
the value was immediately clear. Current assessment
tools, aimed at understanding the motivations and
feelings of individuals through an interview or
question and answer session, could be transposed
highly effectively into game contents. By presenting
options or choices in relation to questions or
dilemmas during game play, the care professional
will be able to assess and record the player’s
responses, as well as using those responses as a
starting point for further discussion. By adopting the
content approach used in current (successful)
assessment tools but presenting this approach within
a game context, REPLAY could prove to be
significantly more effective in eliciting open and
honest responses to the questions and dilemmas
posed. The major criticism of current ‘talking
therapies’ is that they happen in what is essentially
an adult environment: sitting face to face with a care
professional to discuss your feelings is not a natural
context for many young people. Situating these
questions, and the broader discussion, within the
structure of a game would significantly enhance the
openness and engagement of the young person as a
whole. In addition, this approach does not restrict or
negate the use of the game as a starting point for
more therapeutic aims.
3.2 Who should the Game be for?
Throughout the focus group sessions, we talked
about ‘children and young people’ as being, broadly,
the target audience for the REPLAY game. It
became clear from the expert opinions expressed
during this process that specific age groups within
the broad description will have different reference
points and, therefore, need to be addressed in
different ways and with different content.
When we are thinking about who the game should
be for, we first have to decide what we are trying to
achieve. During the focus group sessions, one thing
became clear: the most effective way to deal with
anti-social behaviour is to address the problems as
early as you can. As a child gets older, the
manifestation of anti-social behaviour becomes more
serious, ultimately leading to criminal activity. In
addition, the effectiveness of interventions becomes
less certain. Also, the number of young people
exhibiting lower level types of behaviour is much
greater than those behaving in a more serious
manner. While there is clearly an application for
REPLAY at any age, the conclusion is that a
younger age group would be the best target audience
for the initial REPLAY prototype.
Although some experts suggested that this younger
age group could begin at age 7 or eight, we suggest
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that game content be generated for a slightly older
group. Those young people between 10 and 14 tend
to exhibit the most pronounced ‘early warning signs’
of potentially problematic behaviours. Plus they are
going through significant personal transitions –
puberty; change of school etc. - during this age
phase. On this basis, the 10 to 14 age group will
provide the initial focus point for content
development. Within this age cohort, it was decided
that two levels of ability should be catered for as the
difference in cognition between a 10 year old and a
14 year old – or the difference between a gifted 12
year old and a 12 year old with learning difficulties
– can be significant. Developing both a lower and
upper ability content set will hopefully address this.
A further issue in considering the target audience for
REPLAY is that of gender. Examples of anti-social
behaviour are significantly more prevalent amongst
boys than girls. However, REPLAY should be
developed in such a way as to appeal (or be
applicable to) either boys or girls. Part of the testing
phase of the project will be to analyse the different
reactions of boys and girls to the REPLAY game.
This has to be done within a wider context in which
engagement with, and participation in, games and
gaming technology is more prevalent amongst males
than females. Therefore, the simple premise of
REPLAY as a game could be a negative factor in the
level of female engagement. This is something we
intend to monitor during testing.
3.3 What Type/Causes of Behaviour
should be Addressed?
During the first phase of the project, we worked with
experts in the field as well as conducting a literature
search to provide us with a set of classifications that
would help us understand the different levels of anti-
social behaviour amongst young people. This, in
turn, helped us in considering where the focus for
the REPLAY game should be and how the content
should be designed. The following table indicates
the progression of anti-social behaviour from low to
high:
Level Behaviour Definition
1
(low)
Disruption in the classroom
Defined as a situation in a classroom where 3 or 4 students due to their bad
behaviour prevent the normal development of classroom activities, forcing a
teacher to devote more and more time to controlling discipline and order. This
classification of ASB is considered the most direct preoccupation and the most
important source of unhappiness amongst education professionals. However,
outside of the classroom it receives much less attention.
2
Discipline problems
(conflict between teaching
staff and student)
Defined as behaviours which involve a larger or smaller level of violence to
general classroom disruption. This ranges from resistance or passive “boycott” to
actively challenging and insulting teaching staff that can completely destabilise
daily life in the classroom. (Debarbieux, 1997)
3
Bullying
Defined as the processes of intimidation and victimisation between peers, i.e.
students who share a classroom or educational centre (Ortega and Mora-Merchan,
1997). More specifically, where a one or more students attack or intimidate
another (victim) through insults, rumours, humiliation, social isolation, calling
names etc. Even if this doesn’t constitute violence, in the long term it can have
devastating effects.
4
Vandalism and material
damage
Vandalism is classified and limited to clear acts of violence against things.
Though in combination with Physical Violence this has a great impact education
centres and general public opinion, such acts don’t usually constitute more than
10% of ASB registered in said centres.
5
Physical violence
This phenomena classified and limited to clear acts of violence against people
and the increase and prevalence of all types of weapons within schools has lead to
drastic measures in many countries.
6
(high)
Sexual harassment
To a certain extent, sexual harassment may be considered as a specific form of
bullying, in the same way that we could describe in such terms, racist and
xenophobic abuse. However, abuse, aggression and harassment of a sexual nature
has enough relevance for it to be considered as a separate category. The level of
this abuse varies between 4% of boys taken from a sample in Germany and 22%
of Dutch girls admitting to having been victims of it.
Figure 1: Table of anti-social behaviour progression (from low to high).
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What is clear from this data is that there is a
gradually rising scale of behaviours that start with
low level activity and end, eventually, with criminal
activity. Furthermore, low level activity is
consistently described as an ‘early indicator’ of more
serious problems as young people move into late-
teens and adulthood. In addition, low level activity is
extremely common in schools and communities and
represents the majority of incidents of anti-social
behaviour.
On this basis, the REPLAY game should seek to
address low level activity as its primary objective. In
this way, the game will not only be dealing with the
most common and prevalent types of behaviours but
will also be part of an approach that seeks to catch
problems early, something that is becoming the
norm in countries across Europe.
This notion of ‘early intervention’ – referenced
earlier - is not only key in addressing anti-social
behaviour as part of a wider approach to dealing
with criminal behaviour but is also predicated on the
notion that prevention is better (and cheaper) than
therapy. In addition, by pitching REPLAY as an
early intervention preventative tool, we are
maximising impact and ensuring that we will meet
the demands of the market once the product is
commercialised.
When we are developing the content for the game,
we should focus on addressing the underlying
elements that seem to be most important in their
impact on low-level behaviour and are most clearly
manifest amongst our target group. Primary amongst
these is the notion of setting boundaries – this, in
itself, relates to the idea of values and of the need to
understand and challenge the value system of the
young person with behavioural issues. Many of the
low-level behaviours relate to the notion of
boundaries being either crossed or not understood.
This often manifests itself in behaviour that
challenges authority or ignores basic rules and
regulations. This is particularly relevant within a
school context. By focussing on individual values
and how these manifest in behavioural terms, we
will be ensuring that the REPLAY game is
addressing the core issues relating to anti-social
behaviour amongst young people.
3.4 Which Sort of Exercises and
Activities should be Included?
One of the main requirements identified during our
initial consultation process was that the exercises or
activities we embed in the REPLAY game must be
able to be carried out in multimedia format in order
to take advantage of the added value that a 3D
multimedia application like Replay offers us. On the
other hand, in order to maintain consistency between
the 3D game and current (non-technology) based
activities, we must develop exercises that reflect the
inherent approach of existing tools. As such,
including images, audio and video is a priority. In
addition, some exercises will inevitably be text
based, although we will use audio to augment the
communication of text-based activities.
We will also try to maximise the impact of gaming
technology in this field by integrating activities into
the game play itself (rather than simply taking
existing content and reproducing that on-screen). We
will attempt to exploit the significant possibilities
video game technology offers to create decision-
making choices and to present two dimensional
media in a three dimensional format – enriching
existing approaches with sound, video and making
the whole experience more immersive.
As far as possible, activities will be woven into the
structure of the game itself and will therefore be less
obvious to the player. If we can achieve this, we will
ensure the game has greater impact and this will
increase the effectiveness of the tool as a support
mechanism.
We will incentivise engagement with contents by
making activities mandatory in order that the player
can progress to the next stage of the game. However,
we would argue that non-engagement with game
contents would, in itself, provide an interesting and
valuable starting point for further discussion.
It is important to be clear, at this point, that the game
will be designed to be played by the young person in
company with a teacher or care professional (rather
than by the young person on their own). There will
be two ‘modes’ to the game: the first will be Play
mode which will involve the player navigating
through the game environment, completing activities
as they arise. The second mode – available once the
player has completed the course – will be REPLAY
mode. This will allow the decisions, choices and
reactions the player gave during Play mode to be
replayed back to them. At this point, the teacher or
care professional can use Replay mode as a launch
pad for discussion: “Why did you choose that
option? Why did you take that path? Etc.” All
choices made will be recorded so that the teacher or
care professional will have a record of the player’s
reactions and can use this to inform further action as
part of a coordinated behavioural programme.
REPLAY PROJECT - Gaming Technology Platform for Social Reintegration of Marginalised Youth
493

Figure 2: Some example screens from the REPLAY
platform.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The REPLAY Gaming Platform has been designed
according to the opinions, needs and requirements of
the experts engaged in the project. Although not all
suggestions have been implemented due to technical
and time constrains, we believe we have managed to
create a tool that supports the objectives of teachers
and care professionals in addressing anti-social
behaviour in young people whilst at the same time is
compelling in terms of graphics, sound and
playability to young gamers. . We will learn a great
deal more about the effectiveness of the game from
the testing cycle that will begin in early 2010 and
take place in our three test centres in Europe. Many
of the experts who have be\j.ken involved in
developing the game concept and contents will also
be involved in testing the prototype with young
people. Beyond this, the game has been built in such
a way that we can quickly update and develop new
content activities, ensuring that a commercially
viable product can be brought to market quickly and
that difference versions can be created to meet the
specific interests and abilities of different players.
We hope ultimately to create a new paradigm in
serious gaming that will lead the way in terms of
next generation epistemic applications for young
people.Use as many sections as you need (e.g.
Methodology, Results, Conclussions, etc.) and end
the paper with the list of refecences.
Although the market for so-called ‘serious games’
has grown rapidly over recent years, there is still
much to learn about what makes a successful
eduactional game. The dynamic between the
immersion and playability of the game and the
didactic content embedded is critical in the success
of a game like REPLAY. Furthermore, the game
itself needs to be pitched at a level that the player
feels is both hard enough to be a challenge and easy
enough to complete. In addition, a game like
REPLAY will not be played continuously or for
long periods of time by the player, designed, as it is,
to be played in collaboration with a teacher or
professional as part of a wider behavioural
programme. This makes it fundamentally different
(as a game) from the sorts of games that young
people are used to playing and that are based,
predominantly, on the assumption that the player
will have many hours if not days to master the
different stages of the game. And finally, developing
a game for implementation into an educational or
rehabilitation context creates a number of practical
challenges that need to be taken account of if the
game is to become a successful commerical
application. With all this in mind, the main lessons
learnt from the REPLAY project are as follows:
- Young people have a very high ‘game literacy’
– for any serious game to be successful on any
level, it needs to approximate in terms of
gameplay and immersion the sorts of games
those young people are used to playing. It is too
easy to lose the game element and just be left
with the serious element. If this happens,
engagement in the game will disappear.
- Finding the right level, in terms of playability
and the difficulty of the content, is critical in
the success of a serious game. If either is too
easy or too hard, the player will quickly lose
interest (if the game is too easy) or become
demoralised (if the game is too hard). The best
solution to this, within the REPLAY context, is
to ensure that the game can be pre-configured
both in terms of content and playability, for the
specific player who is about to play (and that
this configuration can be changed quickly in
accordance with the player’s ability).
- A game of this sort, that will not be played for
long or very frequently, needs to be designed
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with this in mind. This means that the set-up
and scenario needs to be immediately engaging
without being too complex, the goals of the
game needs to be easily articulated and the
basic functions of the game need to be easily
mastered. The time available for each player to
learn how to play the game will be short so they
need to be able to engage and become proficent
quickly.
- The pressures that exist within the context of
behavioural programmes in schools and
rehabilitation centres are significant in terms of
time, resources, budgets and, sometimes,
technology. Therefore any final product
designed for this market needs to be developed
with the realities of the market in mind. It is, for
example, highly unlikely that an individual
student within a school context will be able to
receive more than an hour one-to-one attention
from a member of staff within a given time
period. Much of the behavioural work that is
done within this context happens in groups.
REPLAY is designed to be run one-to-one.
Therefore, if we are to end up with a fully
implementable commercial product, we need to
develop REPLAY with a clear understanding of
the practical factors that will, in the end, govern
any such purchase within an educational
institution.
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