The course I am undertaking at Chester University (Church College Certificate in Christian Youth Work) required three submissions for the first semester. This included a presentation, a 1500 word essay, and a Programme pack.
I designed my Programme pack on the theme of 'Moral Issues', and used the medium of videogames to help portray this message. Also, I was given the opportunity to run my sessions at the youth group I help to run. The session from the Programme pack can be seen below.
I arrived early for the first session to set up and organise all the equipment I needed, and when the session was due to start, 9 young people arrived, all of which were female. The set up and resulting creations from the session can be seen in the photos below.
Through running the session, I discovered a number of things about young people, in relation to videogames:
- The stereotype of 'Only boys play videogames' was evident to a certain extent. The young people did not seem as interested in the session as much as I had hoped. Yet this could also be because they were faced with a new experience.
- Some young people stated they were disinterested in the session, yet they still engaged regardless of this. Completing the game became a sort of competition, which made the young people engage more with the game.
- Before playing the game, an explanation needs to be added to future sessions, to help them understand. Though games present a player with the opportunity to discover the story and goals, having a clear set understanding of the game, its controls and player aims is needed.
- The young people desired to have a physically interactive game as part of the planned activities. This shows that though young people are becoming even more involved with digital technology, there is always room for playing social interactive games.
