The Gang Life - Game Proposal

My father is one of the most important people in my life. He has not only provided me with a life full of vast opportunities, but he has taught me to be strong and independent. My father is a dentist in Denver, Colorado and a majority of his patients are Latino. His life, however, was not always so seemingly perfect. At six years old, he migrated from Chihuahua, Mexico to East Los Angeles, California, with his mother, father and nine siblings. During his teenage years, he joined an East Los Angeles game, whom called themselves “Barrio Nueveo” (The New Neighborhood). He became involved with the gang and dropped out of high school his junior year of high school. It was not until many years later, he decided to return to a junior college and pursue a career in dentistry, dramatically turning his life around.

We have all heard the stereotypes and discriminations surrounding gang members. They are typically envisioned as violent thugs who roam the streets strapped with guns and stealing from corner stores. After a life of petty crime, most end up in jail or in a coffin. Rarely do we hear the stories of those who end their life of chaotic violence and crime and end up contributing effectively and successfully to society and the community. My final project will focus on telling the story of those gang members, who turn their negative lives into positive, particularly with the inclusion of a detailed account of my own father’s experience.

Anyways, on to my social impact game. My brief proposal for a social impact game of my own would be entitled “The Gang Life.” In this game the player would start off as an experienced gang member, convicted of murder, but released into society. The player then has to do good deeds, as he is confronted with situations that could cause him or her to resort back to the violent ways that his or her life once was when in the gang. If the player successfully avoids using gang ways to handle various situations, then he or she is able to move on to the next level. Each level confronts the player with more and more aggressive and complicated situations. It is the player’s job to respond reasonably and productively.

Each time the player uses a gang way to resolve a problem he or she loses a “freedom life,” in which each player starts off with three. At the end of these three “freedom lives,” the player loses the game and must start over in order to continue playing the game. Now, this game sounds pretty simple and sounds pretty boring, but please understand, I am in no way a gamer and in no way have experience with these types of computer games, other than the games we experimented with this week. But it is just a proposal and an idea. Hopefully, my website, however, will be of great interest and uniqueness.