A new video game called "We Are Chicago" will soon be released that aims to show a different perspective of what life is like on the South Side. The game's end goal is to get people to change.
According to WBEZ's "Morning Shift," Game Designer Michael Block said the main theme of the game is for the players "to find a way to survive without resorting to violence." He said there are actually a lot of people on the South Side who are not members of gangs and who don't have guns, and not getting into fights all the time.
He adds that the game will be showing the lives of these people and the struggle they deal with and how society is contributing in setting them up for the kind of violent acts and situations. Story consultant Tony Thornton said that he "lived through everything" he wrote.
He shared that walking two or three blocks from their house in any direction would not be met with a challenge from gangs. He also said that he added details to the story that Block and his team wrote and wanted it to be real to those who wouldn't know.
The new game is part of an emerging genre in the gaming industry called empathy game. The game presents realistic problems that players would need to work through. Larry Yellen of Fox 32 reports that players would be assuming the role of teenager Aaron in the game. Players get to make the choice on how Aaron copes with issues at home and with violence.
Yellen said there will be violence in the game, as there will be some punching. As for shooting and punching, he adds that Block doesn't want to give out too much of the game's plot.
Block said their initial goal for the game was to create awareness, especially for people who don't experience the kind of life those living in the South Side get. Their ultimate goal, though, is to get people to change how they think, how they treat people who live in these kinds of neighborhood, and how they talk about them.
The game is expected to be released this year. Get a glimpse of "We Are Chicago's" trailer in the video below. In other news about Chicago, actor Bill Murray plans to open a sports bar and restaurant in suburban Rosemont. It would be a 1980s Caddyshack-themed restaurant that Murray will be opening with his four brothers.
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