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Mimi Cahill (centre) with classmates (from left) Brian Yip, Jacquelyn Salloum and Aleysha Mullen. (Bruce Bottomley photo)

Mimi Cahill and her classmates have created a computer game. Unlike most games, this one was designed to help tackle one of the world鈥檚 most serious and challenging problems: the continued recruitment and use of child soldiers.

Like all students in the Informatics program, Mimi takes an Integrated Studies course each term that gives her the opportunity to work on a practical project. Working with teammates from her program, as well as Computer Science students (the course is cross-listed as Community Outreach for the Computer Science students), she鈥檚 made valuable contributions to several non-profit organizations.

For the fall term, Mimi chose to join five other students in wrapping up a computer game project that has spread across three terms over the past year. The game was built for the听, a Dalhousie-based organization founded by retired Lieutenant-General Romeo Dallaire in 2007 that aims to progressively end the use of child soldiers through a security sector approach. It's designed to serve as an interactive training tool for security sector actors who may have direct contact with child soldiers.

鈥淚 sought this project out specifically, because I wanted a little bit of game-building experience and because it鈥檚 a meaningful project,鈥� Mimi says, adding that she鈥檚 been interested in human rights and particularly child soldiers since she was about 13. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a pretty deep subject, despite the fact that it鈥檚 a game.鈥�

A training tool

According to Mimi, the project鈥檚 original purpose was to develop a game that would raise awareness about the plight of child soldiers, but evolved to focus on the training aspect. Recognizing that first-person interaction with child soldiers presents difficult choices and potential danger for security sector actors, subsequent groups chose to address the need for preparation.

鈥淭he game is meant to be a training tool,鈥� says Mimi, explaining that the training begins with players being led through a primer of the situation in Somalia and the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) mission, the country and peacekeeping context for which the game was created. Players then encounter a series of interactions with child soldiers and make choices that lead to varying results.

鈥淭he game leads you through these different situations where you see a child soldier and interact with them and you鈥檙e choosing which dialogue to go with,鈥� Mimi says. 鈥淒epending on your choices, you might end up making the child angry and you鈥檒l lose the game.

鈥淚t鈥檚 up to you whether you want to be heavy-handed or mild. As you go along, you learn which ways are the best.鈥�

Mimi believes that this kind of interactive learning can be of unique benefit for security sector actors.

鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 take too long to play, but it does give you a quick feel for those situations,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 content that people in these organizations need to learn. And maybe it鈥檚 an easier way to take that information in than reading a huge document.鈥�

Making an impact

Although originally designed to apply to Somalia and the AMISOM peacekeeping mission, student game developers have added functionality that allows users in different countries to alter the settings and game play to suit other nations. 鈥淲hoever鈥檚 working with the Romeo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative can customize it depending on what they need it to be at the time,鈥� Mimi says.

Josh Boyter, communications officer for the Romeo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative, says students like Mimi have created a meaningful piece of a larger plan to address this challenge to the international community.

鈥淲orking together on the game project, we have created a student-developed tool that will have a direct impact on the work the Dallaire Initiative does around the globe to prevent the use of children as weapons of war鈥� says Boyter.

Mimi says the game should be ready to deploy this month, wrapping up a project for which she was just one of many student contributors. Along with practical technical experience and the chance to work with the Dallaire Initiative, she and her colleagues gained the satisfaction of creating something that can make an important impact across the globe.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a global project in a lot of ways,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a game, but we didn鈥檛 want to make it trivial. We wanted to make it useful.鈥�

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