电子艺界创始人转战教育游戏领域

    这款游戏分为若干个章节，一个月内安排不同的教学计划。第一章将探讨积极和消极情绪，以及每种情绪内的多个层面。比如，愤怒被普遍视为次级情绪，因为它是由其他原因造成的。从始至终，这款游戏会不断推出新角色，玩家们可以了解这些角色的情绪状态，同时探索背景故事，以了解它们产生各种情绪的原因。

    “我们引入‘查阅’(check-in)概念。这样，玩家与人互动时就可以查阅并更加留意他们的感受，从而在社交过程中意识到这一点，”霍金斯说。“我们也传授情绪可能会大起大落这个概念，同时还引入了一些对情绪进行自我管理和调节的工具。”

    游戏设置以不同的方式阐释这些概念。当一位玩家的化身情绪激动时，它就会漂浮到空中。精灵向导教导玩家如何使用从SEL课程中学到的经验教训冷静下来。在后面的章节中，玩家将遇到一位与宝宝分离的母亲。这位母亲非常愤怒，因为她认为这位玩家应对此事负责。现在，玩家必须把同样的冷静技巧用在这位母亲身上，再次应用此前学到的经验教训。作为奖励，玩家最终将让这位母亲和她的孩子重新团聚。

    “我们边做边学，如果你被投入到一种情势下，而且这种情势能够以有利于你的方式转移至现实世界，那么玩游戏就是一种极其有效的学习方式，”霍金斯说。“玩《愤怒的小鸟》(Angry Birds)时，人们无法学到任何可以应用到现实世界的东西。很多家长因子女玩移动设备上瘾而感到沮丧。坦率地说，我们每个人都有这样的嗜好，但现在有许多人把平板电脑、智能手机、电脑和游戏机当作电子保姆来使用。我们设计《如果》是为了给孩子们呈现一些场景，在这个引人入胜的奇幻世界中，他们需要做出一些可以在日常生活中应用的决策。”

    霍金斯说，这款游戏将探索很多学校目前还没有解决的SEL教育指导方针，其中包括如何管理情绪，如何培育积极的关系，以及如何在社会上做出有效的决策。对家长的另一个好处是，这款游戏传授的教训也有助于解决霸凌问题。

    “如果一个小霸王玩这个游戏，他们不会立刻意识到自己是这类人——这款游戏不会教导他们停止恃强欺弱——但它将提高他们的敏感性，他们将开始更好地理解被人欺侮的滋味，”霍金斯说。“我的确怀抱着一个长期的信念：通过这款游戏，我们不只可以帮助受害者，其实还将帮助小霸王们意识到，如果不欺负人的话，他们的境遇也会好得多。”   

    The game has been divided into chapters, and different lesson plans are taught over the course of a month. The first chapter will explore positive and negative emotions and the multiple layers within each emotion. For example, anger is generally considered a secondary emotion because something else is causing it. Throughout the game, new characters will be introduced, and players can learn about their emotional state and explore back stories on why the characters feel the way they do.

    "We introduce the concept of a check-in when you interact with people, checking to see how they're feeling and being more mindful and socially aware about that," said Hawkins. "We also teach about the concept that feelings can get escalated up and down, and we introduce some tools for self-management and regulation of emotions."

    Gameplay illustrates these concepts in different ways. When a player's avatar becomes emotionally elevated, it floats into the air. The spirit guide teaches the player how to calm down using lessons from SEL. Later in the chapter, the player will encounter a mother who's been separated from her baby, and she's angry because she thinks the player is responsible. Now the player must use these same calming techniques on the mother, applying what they learned earlier. As a reward, the player will ultimately reunite the mother with her child.

    "We learn by doing, and gameplaying is a fundamentally potent way to learn if you're put into a situation that can be transferred into the real world in the way that benefits you," said Hawkins. "If you look at Angry Birds, you're not learning anything that can be applied to the real world. There are lots of parents that are despondent because they have a child that has a mobile addiction. We all have a mobile addiction, let's be frank, but many people are using tablets, smartphones, computers, and game consoles as an electronic babysitter. We've designed IF … to present kids with scenarios where they need to make decisions within a fully engrossing fantasy world, and those same decisions can be applied to everyday life."

    The game will explore SEL educational guidelines that Hawkins said aren't being addressed by many schools today, including how to manage your emotions, how to develop positive relationships, and how to make effective decisions in society. Another benefit for parents is that the lessons the game teaches also address bullying.

    "If a bully played this game they wouldn't immediately realize that they're a bully -- and this game isn't going to teach them not to be a bully -- but it would increase their sensitivity and they would start to better understand the consequences of being a victim," said Hawkins. "I really do have a long-term belief that what we're doing with this game doesn't just help the victims, it would actually help bullies realize that they're better off not being bullies."