Abstract:

The aim of European Commission founded project REPLAY is to develop a gaming technology platform to provide young people who have become marginalised in society as a result of anti social behaviour with a learning environment to facilitate their reintegration into society. Although scalable to a range of marginalised groups such as immigrants, children with learning disabilities, retirees etc, REPLAY will focus on the education and reeducation of young people whose behaviour might be a problem for the communities in which they live.

The project is funded by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme. It is a collaboration between seven partners in Spain, Romania and the UK. The coordinating partner is Brainstorm Multimedia, a technology company based in Valencia. Brainstorm lead the game development phase of the project. Innovatec, an SME based in Alicante, provides an innovative balance board interface into the game technology platform. AIJU, a toy research institute also based in Alicante, offers feedback throughout the process on the efficacy of the game. Alexander John Cuza University is the oldest academic institution in Romania: the Centre for Applied Research in Education participate in all phases of work. White Loop, a London based consultancy, contributes with particular focus on measuring the social and organisational impact of the game. Alongside three 'testbeds': in Romania, Rotalent, an NGO involved in exploring how giftedness affects behaviour and marginalisation; in Spain, the El Cerezo Day Centre, a facility whose main objective is to help reintegrate troubled young people back into society through actively encouraging the development of social capabilities and values; and Woolwhich Polytechnic School in UK participating as a volunteer organisation

In the paper we establish the main requirements in the design of the gaming paltaform based on experts opinions obtained in semi-in-depth interviews and Focus Groups. The gaming platform has been developed based on these requirements and it is under evaluation by the end users and review by experts from the European Commission.

Keywords:

Replay, re-education, gaming platform, virtual reality, marginalised youth.