IF … An Emotional-Intelligence Game for Kids on the iPad

IF… One of the most innovative games around!

Right now, I’m so excited! I haven’t been this excited about a video game much less one for the iPad well, in forever?! This new, innovative, subscription-based iPad adventure game is geared toward children ages six (6) to 12. It’s from the founder of Electronic Arts (EA) and THE creative force behind EA Sports: Trip Hawkins (he was also one of the early executives at Apple/led Digital Chocolate to a massive amount of mobile downloads; he’s also won a plethora of awards AND he’s the first and only business executive named to the game industry Hall of Fame by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences); the Chief Learning Officer: Jessica Berlinski (she last worked for GameDesk which is a Gates Foundation funded NPO focused on educational transformation through play, she brings with her over 15+ years of experience and has held other notable positions such as National Director of Character Counts and she even successfully advocated for the inclusion of language supporting school climate in Obama’s ESEA proposal and more!); the Chief Product Officer: Stewart Bonn (a 12 year veteran of Electronic Arts he is “the man” that produced most of their successful titles, as the SVP/GM of EA he led the world’s largest interactive studio. He has also served as an Advisor and/or co-founder for many social media and game companies); and “Mister Moshi” himself who is the Chief Creative Officer: Ben Geliher (for the past nine (9) years he has worked to create fresh and exciting games that do NOT compromise on fun, quality or creativity all the while being educational and yes, you read that right…from launch to the now 75 million and growing online community of Moshi Monsters he led this team to its successful niche in kids online gaming for ages six (6) to ten (10) and I can speak from experience saying that two of those users reside in my home); are you speechless yet? I am! What an amazing team to have. These four individuals along with their very diverse team of Advisors has created and brought to you this new and exciting social-educational-adventure game! Now do you understand why I’m so giddy with joy to introduce this to you – after harping about it for the past few months.

It’s my opinion that this is going to revolutionize apps (games are already changing and more and more are available on iOS … before long that will be how video games are played IMO). The way they are used. The way they are marketed and more than that what they do and can do for our children. I’m looking at this from both a mom with a “typical” functioning child and a child on the spectrum and other medical d/x. Let’s delve into this awe-inspiring iPad adventure that has so much to offer in regards to emotional-intelligence for our children.

How It Works:

IF is an innovative educational-adventure game. Your kid (or kids) will be dropped into the imaginary town of Greenberry (Ziggurat is the planet). It’s at this point they’re able to choose their avatar (they can be either a female/male dog – coming in the next eight (8) to ten (10) weeks the paid subscription version will be available and in future updates your child will have the option of making their avatar a male/female cat or keep their dog avatar – this way they can play from either/or perspective) and choose various things to change to make the avatar the way they prefer (from shoes to eyes and ears and tail). Again, the paid version is not quite available; however, when it comes out and they are able to make that choice just think about it…dog or cat (the free play version will still have dogs and cats in Greenberry, only the current perspective is male/female dog – again aside from future updates for the avatar choice there will be more characters and social/educational items added that these chapters are and will grow with your child introducing it to them slowly and on their level integrating it to them in a meaningful learning environment that will actually teach them these skills and should have educators and schools looking at implementing this into their curriculum in some way…just my two cents). That right there tells you something. Even in the free version you realize before you start that dogs and cats are rivals “normally” (or scripted to be that way in cartoons, movies and more) however, many families have dogs and cats that reside in harmony at their homes. That’s what your child (being the hero) needs to do: RESTORE BALANCE and HARMONY in Greenberry!

For starters, the town of Greenberry is a MESS! There’s so much in-fighting going on. In order to balance this out your child will have to complete tasks. I liken this to “Role-Playing-Games” (RPG’s) for kids, only on their level without all the violence and *ahem* women drawn to entice or lure certain audiences *lol* … anyway, a lot will be going on behind the scenes when your child is completing and completes the tasks. The generated quests/tasks and how they did along with areas they need to work on are sent to the parents iOS device (fa-fa-fabulous) and let me tell you these algorithms they have written on how the child reacts and completes just have me gushing. **Please note that the first chapter of IF will be free and then you can opt-in to purchase a subscription package to finish playing/go through more chapters. Again, as stated above, the paid subscription based educational game should be available in eight (8) to ten (10) weeks. The free play version will send to the parents at the end of the chapter an email that gives an overview of how your child did/areas to work on. In the full paid version there will be a parents dashboard that will completely blow your mind! It will help support and empower you as the parent in a way to connect you with your child where you can actually understand what they are doing and how they are doing in IF along with opening up dialogue. The dashboard will actually give you fun ways to do this and engage you and your child through IF in a way that has yet to be seen. You won’t have to worry about analyzing a huge list of how Dick and Jane did but more important an easy-to-read format on areas that were completely successful and areas they may need to work on and again fun and engaging ways that you as a family can do that all the while talking about it without feeling like you have no idea what they are speaking about … and again this all feeds back into being educational in an environment that promotes social engagement techniques that can be used/carried over into everyday life from the playground at school to peers in classroom all the way to handling situations at home and more!** As the hero (your child) unlocks the mysteries of Greenberry to bring harmony among the cats and dogs – you the parent, are able to participate (via a user-friendly parent dashboard in the paid subscription based version – again the free version you receive an email overview) to fully support your child.

The Importance of Teaching Emotional Intelligence:

This brings me back to how emotional-intelligence CAN be taught and will be through this awesome adventure game with the simple name (don’t let that fool you as just with daily life the word “IF” is full of promise and outcomes that you control) of “IF”! Everyday small acts are done without you, or your child, or others seeking to tell others of what they have or are doing. It’s just a given. Do you ever stop and think what sort of effect that has on your children or others? You may not realize it but it may impact more than you know. What if you didn’t do it. What would happen then? That is part of the meaning behind the “trash” in Greenberry as your child in their avatar glory will do such a “chore” (they’re encouraged let’s say that) as picking up trash (to help clean up the town). This is from Mr. Hawkins’ himself who has always “picked up trash” in his “real-life” and never gave it a second thought. His daughter, however, surprised him by telling the crowd at her school during a presentation about how she loved it and that his “little” act caused her to start doing it as well! Talk about making a parent proud! It’s the small-things, remember that? Well those small things are in fact what creates a ripple-effect that becomes “big things” and that in and of itself, is part of social and emotional intelligence and what makes it up. All that and more – I mean this group of top gaming-leaders in the industry have brought to us something that we should all look at with amazement and go WOW…they’re actually taking everyday situations from bullying even to help give us a way to address that CRISIS (yes, it is a crisis right now in my opinion) and create a safe and supportive RPG that can have a huge impact on a child’s emotional well-being.

You Dog teaches calming techniques to kids:

Let me repeat that: “a huge impact on a child’s emotional well-being”…I have one child on the spectrum. I’ve mentioned that A LOT in various articles I’ve written here and just in general on posts I have made along with his other medical diagnosis. My son learns differently than my daughter. My son is “plugged-in” is an understatement. He learned speech and pronunciation and verbal skills and had social stories to help when we did things out of the norm. We did math, and science and everything you can and could think of from his iPad. In doing so, we’ve used apps that help teach emotions or to help try and identify them. When I work with my son he gets frustrated with me sometimes – mainly if he “messes up” in his mind. He feels like a failure (you have no idea how hard it is for me to write that because in no way do I or have I ever considered him that nor do I or would I think that of him) but that is how he perceives things. My son also gets extremely frustrated playing games sometimes. My thing with that has always been to approach it calmly (I address before he plays something new as well that it may be hard or is aged older than him etc) and that sometimes we have to take deep breaths or stop and come back later or just remove it for the time being from the iPad.

I’m talking about all this because I had a super happy experience in reviewing “IF” and that was how it actually has a main character named “You Dog” that is basically the ‘obi-wan’ of the game and he will help explain to my child (and yours) through interactive models ways to calm down or techniques to use in order to do that (and eventually more – remember there will be more and more chapters introduced down the line that will incorporate different tasks that again teaches the child through these Epic Tales as they the child grows) and in this free version scenario with the help of You Dog and Cinda (another character) that they should “take a deep breath” and by doing so tap tap tap as they breathe in deeply! Now that shows me right there that a lot of thought and care was put and placed into this RGP emotional/social adventure game. **This interactive model shows Cinda becoming more frustrated and how it is escalating and with the help of You Dog they are taught tools on calming down (with the assistance of your child’s avatar helping out) and these tools/techniques can and will be carried over into real-life** Again more of these Epic Tales will be released down the line and this game will continue to grow as your child grows.

Children Learn Social and Emotional Skills:

A little about the game play of the energy creatures (you collect these throughout the game and they become part of your team to help you out – think of it as mirroring Pokemon in this regard). In Greenberry, as stated, everything is amiss and in disarray and the land is run on power (like in the real world) only because of the imbalance you have good energy and bad energy (good v bad analogy) and you will play in matches called a SCRUB where your friends/teammates (that you have collected) will help you. And true to life, you win some you lose some.

Let me let Mr. Hawkins explain this (he’s much better at it than I am):

“Learning begins with obtaining the attention of the student, and is sustained through the motivation of the student.  In today’s world, children are digital natives whose attention and motivation is within (mobile) games.  Scientists have also found that the most potent motivation is intrinsic and autonomous, which reinforces the alignment with games and learning potential.  Efforts in the past to scale learning games have failed because the games have not been enough fun; for that reason the gameplay fun must be at the foundation in order to sustain motivation and engagement.  Hence we are doing the, “learnification of games” not the gamification of learning. 

For example, the preview game includes a strategy and resource-management mini-game with strong action dynamics that we call a “scrub” between two magical creatures known as “Vim”.  We use Vim as tools and metaphors for emotions and SEL skills (eg, you may be called upon to take a Vim with an “anger management problem” to the Training Grounds to practice tools that build skill in emotional awareness and regulation, that a student can later apply to their own moments of anger).  Engagement, however, must be more about fun, repeatable game mechanics as you would find in a good poker, football or Pokemon game.  Hence we invented the idea that the Vim have a problem with Dark Energy and the player needs to help them by using Light Energy to “clean them”.  The way this is presented feels familiar to most children because many games have this kind of a Rochambeaux game in which you face off against a rival creature and choose one from your own collection, and then have to match up the right strategies for success in the competition, not unlike two Olympic competitors in curling or slopestyle snow-boarding.  When the Vim face off, they bring a certain strength in Energy into the event, and it is then consumed depending on the strategic choices.  The player has the goal of scrubbing/cleaning the other Vim but may fail to succeed if they choose poorly and run out of energy; they have a parallel goal to “study” the other Vim in order to become “friends” with it.  (This is akin to meeting someone new and earning their mobile number for future contact.)  These goals compete against each other because you may run out of energy because you chose to study instead of focusing on the scrubbing.  The choices are very simple and familiar to kids from many other contemporary games, and we infuse this simple process of resource management and strategy by having very dynamic visuals and action that bring the energy to life and support our storyline about The Energy Field and Light and Dark Energy.”

   

I totally understand what Mr. Hawkins is saying above. I get it. He is much more prolific at this than I am (I just want to play *lol*)! So yes, your child will collect these energy creatures and then they (your child) will need to choose which one to use in certain situations. And that goes back to my statement above, “you win some you lose some” as in real-life. This is how life is and this is how it carries over and this is how your child(ren) will learn. I am ready! My kids are pumped! I should continue though!

Aside from the SEL screenshots you saw above there’s an ExSEL set of goals for IF. Here this will help explain it better:

“Every “move” your child makes in the game is a choice. “Behind the scenes” we’re assessing each choice against 20 distinct SEL skills. These are the skills we’re working to build in your child. We call these our ExSEL goals. IF…’s 20 ExSEL goals were derived from the study of state teaching standards for SEL, as well as experts from Yale, CASEL, The Nueva School and KIPP’s Character Report Card.” These are the ExSEL’s: SELF-AWARENESS, SELF-MANAGEMENT, RELATIONSHIP SKILLS, and DECISION-MAKING. “When children make positive choices or choices that build these ExSEL skills, they’re able to resolve issues in the game, get positive emotional feedback from characters, and advance the storyline to new scenes and curriculum elements.When children make poor choices, characters will feel and react differently, much like children and adults might react in “real life”. Learning can occur through remediation and repetition, as well as through the positive feedback from characters of improved choices. It can also occur through observing behavior that is repetitively role-modeled by characters in the game.Nothing is learned in one shot. Key themes, strategies and tools are repeated from chapter to chapter. Your child’s “skill-building” towards these 20 ExSEL goals is ongoing. Yet you’re able to see exactly how your child’s progressing in each of these skills on demand. We’re continually tracking and aggregating each data point from your child’s choices and assessing understanding of the lessons plans and comprehension of the 20 ExSEL skills. We organize and report this information to you through your dashboard. Children never see this raw data.”  *For more information visit: https://www.ifyoucan.org/exsel-stats/

If you have any questions, please send them via email to: helpme@ifyoucan.org
Visit the appstore to download the app (iPad only): https://bit.ly/1fOgxvG
Currently the app is free and in the coming months as the paid version is released you will be able to opt-in to certain packages. Right now, I know that it will be $4.99 a month; however, as with most services that do this if you bundle months you will get a reduced cost (as I learn more I’ll let you know)
Visit their website and read more about IF…you can along with how they are aligned educationally to build SEL skills to help with empathy, perseverance, and healthy decision making: https://www.ifyoucan.org/

Here’s more screenshots for the app itself. I have videos as well I just did not want to inundate you too much (I’m so excited I could not help but share it all with you)!