A Mexican video game developed by the Jalisco government seeks to fight gender violence. The video game tells the History of Chuka, a 13-year-old Youtuber. The character faces monsters that represent physical, sexual, and psychological violence.
The United Nations Organization (UNO) considers gender violence as a pandemic. And Mexico is not doing well in this issue. According to data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI by its name in Spanish), two out of three Mexican women over 18-years-old have suffered some kind of violence.
But just one out of ten women sue their aggressors.
A video game to fight gender violence
The Secretariat of the Jalisco Social Assistance System (SSAS) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) seek that children and adolescents who remain in the Cabañas Home and Casa Varones can identify gender violence and can act against it. The video game “Chuka, rompe el silencio” (Chuka, break the silence) is their main allied in this target.
The game tells the story of Chuka, a 13-year-old Youtuber who enters a nightmare accompanied by her pet, an axolotl. In that dark world, Chuka will face some monsters that represent physical, sexual, and psychological violence.
Users choose the answers they will give to the monsters with emoticons. The objective is that when playing video games, users can identify a situation of gender violence, create defense strategies, and recognize the importance of asking for help.
In addition to the use that will be made for children that makes up the Hogar Cabañas and Casa Varones, the video game is available to download for free on Google Play, App Store, and any electronic device that has the windows system (http://www. chukagame.com/).
Chuka is a video game launched in 2018 and is part of the Doha Declaration Global Program, which promotes the use of educational tools to promote the values of integrity and tolerance.