Carta Nostra
Associazione Don Bosco 2000
Young Sicilians of school age
Project TypeVirtual Reality
ScopeEducation
A virtual experience to raise awareness among young Sicilians about the issue of "caporalato" (illegal hiring of farm workers).
To increase awareness among younger generations regarding the phenomenon of "caporalato".
An educational virtual reality game in which the user must make the right choices to defeat the dark cloud giant, the Mafia, that has descended upon the city.
The project
In the fight against "caporalato" in Sicily, teamwork wins, and every choice matters, in both the virtual and real world. This is the concept of Our Card, the Virtual Reality game created in response to the need of the Don Bosco 2000 Association to raise awareness, through new technologies, among children and teenagers from elementary and middle schools visiting the Beteyà Digital Farm museum path in Villarosa, inside a villa confiscated from the Mafia.
Inside the experience
By donning the role of a giant, the user is faced with a small Sicilian town depicted in a cartoon style. Here, he meets Rita, a cheerful and wise little mouse, who guides the player in making the right choices to defeat the cloud giant that has descended upon their city: the Mafia. Alongside Rita, they discover that this phenomenon, sadly widespread in those areas, has drained vitality from their country, forcing its inhabitants to work in inhumane conditions. To stem the advance of the "tempestuous" monster and rampant corruption, the user will have a deck of cards at their disposal. Not all choices will be correct, and it will be up to them to understand, even by making mistakes, which are the best cards to play in this difficult battle. Each winning card will take ground away from the hands of the Mafia, while mistakes will allow it to advance, further afflicting lands and workers. Only through a series of correct choices will the user be able to drive the storm from the city, eliminating the Mafia and restoring the city and its inhabitants to their original splendor.
About the design
The Giant
Although small and fragile at sight, today's young generations will soon be the voices of tomorrow, the people who will decide the future. Why not accelerate the times a bit and allow this evolution to happen immediately in the virtual experience? VR eliminates limits and increases possibilities, giving true superpowers to those who try it. By donning the role of a giant, the player not only has the strength to move extremely heavy objects but also the power to have a broad view and admire the landscape from above.
The Mafia
Presenting phenomena through metaphors allows us to break free from preconceptions and simplify communication, observing it from another point of view. An example of this is the work "La mafia spiegata ai bambini" (The Mafia Explained to Children) by Marco Rizzo and Lelio Bonaccorso. The choice to represent the Mafia as a storm full of bad intentions is a visual trick that allows easy identification of the good guys from the bad guys (an important distinction in children's storytelling) and at the same time is an additional element that can later be removed to convey healing from the Mafia.
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