Case Studies
Queensland Health Ice Kiosk
The “What’s the Buzz?” touch screen kiosks were designed to inform young adults of the dangers of Ice. The kiosks were installed in TAFEs and universities around South East Queensland attracting thousands of sessions each week. The project won the Queensland AIIA iAward for education and training.
The Challenge
How does a government tell teenagers and young adults to be careful when using drugs? How does a government tell an intelligent, curious, technology savvy yet potentially cynical demographic about a potentially harmful “new” drug? How does a government do this without seeming prescriptive and prudish?
The Solution
A serious game accessed by a touch screen kiosk.
A serious games methodology was adopted for this project as it offered Queensland Health the ability to deliver a serious message in a not so serious way. Touch screen kiosks were chosen as the delivery channel as the technology would appeal to the demographic, would be easy to use and would require little or no instruction. The kiosk software could also be configured to provide accurate metrics, which would assist Queensland Health in tracking the success of the project.
A game show theme was selected as it created a familiar scenario, which aided quick comprehension, as well as allowing the game show host and assistant to address some of the main aims: a funny host to engage users and an intelligent Gen Y assistant to deliver the serious messages and foster credibility. The hosts could also deliver the instruction in a quick and amusing fashion (subtitles could be activated when sound was not able to be used), and act as the central component off which everything else hung.
As there was going to be very little instruction, the game play had to be very easy to comprehend. A version of naughts and crosses was used as the primary game, with each of the traditional nine squares containing a mini-game to be played to win the square. Each mini-game dealt with one of the methamphetamine issues Queensland Health wanted to communicate. The mini-games were highly interactive and engaging and ranged in difficulty.
The “What’s the Buzz?” serious game successfully walked the difficult line between entertainment and learning, enabling the client to communicate sensitive subject matter in a relevant and engaging way to a traditionally difficult demographic.
