UNESCO: Hey Kids Want to Play a Game?

By Tyler Ament | January 11, 2011

Recently, UNESCO launched a video game for kids that mixes talk of HIV and AIDs prevention with races through World Heritage Sites around the globe.

After narrowly missing some oncoming traffic on the highway, I came across the first checkpoint, and the first quiz. The question was about a virus: Is it a curse or a disease? Miles later, and a few crashes later, I found myself in Africa. Racing past camels and ancient monuments, I found myself at a few more checkpoints. This time they started talking about what AIDs is. They assured me that AIDs is not a curse, and that it is not a punishment for wrong doing. It’s just a disease. They also assured me that AIDs is only caused by infection, not immoral or illegal behavior. Oh yeah, and they made sure that I remembered it wasn’t witchcraft. Then, after a long drive through the desert, I started hearing about what AIDs is a direct consequence of. Not criminal behavior, not homosexual behavior, and definitely not syringe-injected drug addiction. It just comes from HIV. When I tried to ask “but where does HIV come from?” they told me to just keep driving.

When it came time to hear about how to prevent AIDs, the checkpoints provided plenty more information. They said I just have to be sure to use condoms properly. Oh, so the only way to make sure that HIV/AIDs cannot be transmitted is to make sure you are “protected.” No other options, just condoms.

The problem with Fast Car: Traveling Safely Around the World, aside from the fact that your car slows down when you change lanes, is that it doesn’t tell the whole story about the HIV/AIDs dilemma. It doesn’t mention the fact that injected drug use, homosexual sexual activity, and others are considered high-risk activities. It doesn’t mention that there is debate about whether condoms do in fact prevent infection, and that the evidence in favor of such a claim is less than stellar. It doesn’t mention abstinence and marital fidelity as real working solutions to the problem.

Lastly, it fails to acknowledge that encouraging sexual activity amongst children who are 16 years old (that’s the minimum age requirement to play the game) is only going to increase the rate of infection and encourage irresponsible behavior. You can view the game and the press release from UNESCO’s Information and Communication Sector here. Luckily, it doesn’t seem likely that UNESCO’s game is going to compete much with the likes of Call of Duty or Halo.

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