Remember when everyone was saying that video games would never get you anywhere? Now they’re being used as educational tools. Take that, out-of-touch parents from 1996.
Case in point, an educational outing from the Recycling and Economic Development Initiative of South Africa (REDISA), called simply The REDISA Game – unless you’re on iOS in which case it’s called Trash Dash – The REDISA Game. Is that some gaming gentrification, Apple?
Kidding aside, the locally-produced title has been made with education in mind. Players take the role of a person who enters the waste stream industry; essentially making money from the opportunities to be found in waste in South Africa. Along the way they tidy up a ‘fictional’ city called Jozyville, while scaling up from a one-man show to a fully-fledged company with an HR department, as well as the sort of amenities that most of us can only dream of in a workplace. While players are taking their digital journey, information in the form of pop-ups will highlight environmental, waste management, and business-related issues.
REDISA Director Stacey Davidson said “Education around the opportunities that exist within the waste sector is vital to change South Africans’ mindsets that waste has no value. The game platform was created to invoke a memorable and engaging way to educate the public about what can be done to alleviate a serious environmental problem and, at the same time, for them to see the opportunities to be found in waste”
The locally-made game is available now, free, on Android, iOS and Windows Phone. Just bear in mind that there are, apparently, in-app purchases to watch out for.