MMOG Teaches Kids About Traffic Safety

The UK Department of Transportation presents Code of Everand, an educational MMOG that teaches kids to look both ways before crossing the Spirit Channels lest they be devoured by monsters.

While one branch of the UK government is busy trying to turn gamers into soldiers, another is using online games as a source for peace: The Department of Transportation has funded development of Code of Everend, a (seemingly) clever little way to teach kids proper traffic safety.

In Everend, the kids will be put into the role of Pathfinders, heroes whose job it is to navigate the treacherous Spirit Channels (aka roads, only with monsters and beasts instead of sedans and SUVs) that criss-cross the countryside in search of the mythical Code of Everend, which one can assume is a book of traffic safety laws or something like that.

As silly as the premise seems (and as easy as it would be to make fun of it), I can't see this as being anything but a good idea - it's a presumably fun way to get a useful message across to children, it's a creative take on how to make something mundane something fun and exciting, and while I can't exactly see how the game intends to work beyond "Don't run into the roads Spirit Channels," that's probably because I didn't develop the thing.

In England, do the monsters run on the left side of the Spirit Channels?

(Edge)