Game helps kids kick the habit

CULTURE OF PERSUASION: Victoria University PhD graduate Rilla Khaled in a photomontage with MC, a character from her game Smoke.

Rilla Khaled hopes interactive video games will turn young people away from smoking and other bad habits.

The computer science expert and Victoria University PhD graduate has helped create a game called Smoke, designed to fight the powerful addiction.

In Smoke, the player guides a character called MC through decisions and actions over six weeks of his life, mirroring the path people must take to give up smoking.

Two versions of the game were designed, one aimed at a Maori audience and the other for New Zealand Europeans.

Adapting the educational video game to different cultural audiences improved its effectiveness, Dr Khaled said.

Feedback from Wellington high school and university students revealed all players preferred elements of the game, for example, language, designed for their culture.

"The kinds of attitudes people hold and the behaviours they exhibit are influenced by culture, so cultural beliefs play a large role in persuasion."

Persuasive technology is any interactive software designed to change people's attitudes or behaviours. Applications include health, education and the environment - for example, in anti- littering campaigns.

Dr Khaled's findings could help the design of technology encouraging all sorts of behaviour change.

"To date there hasn't been a lot of persuasive technology research outside countries considered to have an individualist culture. Countries like New Zealand, which are steadily becoming more ethnically diverse, are ideal testing grounds for this kind of research."

About 5000 deaths each year in New Zealand are attributed to direct smoking or second-hand smoke - that's 13 people a day.

Smoking also affects children's health through its effects during pregnancy and childhood. These include increased risk of serious respiratory tract conditions such as bronchitis and pneumonia.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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