Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 18, Number 7, 1 July 2001 — No time for games at Kauaʻiʻs Kula Nā ʻIiʻi [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

No time for games at Kauaʻiʻs Kula Nā ʻIiʻi

| By Kamuela Aea Irecently returned from a game deve!oper's conference in Silicon Valley (San Jose, not Hollywood). This trip was the result of an ineident that triggered my interest in game play as an educational leaming tool occasionally referred to as edutainment. It began when I was at the Smokey Valley Clubhouse in Waimea Valley, Kaua'i and saw a t group of anxious kua'āina children huddled around one child, shouting at him to hurry up. Sadly, they weren't waiting their turn to "suck pipe" at the water fountain after an exhausting red-zone cardio time of playing "It". Instead, they wanted to wrap their tiny doub!e-jointed thumbs around a Game Boy the boy had. It was this awakening incident that took me to the conference. I'm not ma'a with computer games, so at first it was intimidating mingling among 3D animators, artificial intelligence researchers, code monkeys and game gurus. When asked to introduce myself at a break-out session, I said I played Solitaire (it eame with my Macintosh) and kōnane. Initially, I condescendingly thought this gathering would be the social event of lily white creeps and closeted Laura Croft stalkers. By the third day my attitude was radically changed. I no longer felt superior, moving through a sea of people to whom I wanted to yell, "Get a life, go outside play!" Instead, I wanted to greet everyone as "Bruddah, we same, same!" Here's why. There are people tucked away in educational institutions like myself who create worlds. I create people from statistical data bases. I mold digits and breathe life into these hinomial souls. I clothe them with calculated deficiencies, subjective strengths and write narratives detailing their characteristics, predispositions and impending doom. Like a generic game, the object is to redeem these people from their

deficiencies in an allotted time. To redeem this population I must skillfully craft a redemption package that includes various services, programs and activities that will address my populations' deficiencies. Here is where my virtual world and real world interface: I market this redemption package designed specifically for a virtual population to a real world population. Onee the statistical population is extrapolated, the immediate and upcoming state of affairs articulated, a comprehensive redemption plan designed and its proselytizing package complete, the proposed game is submitted to the federal government for funding. We are engaged with the federal government in an abstract form of game play. Like all Vegas gaming houses, the odds are against us, yet as hopeful, compulsive or ignorant players we find ourselves drawn to the table. The game keeps many, like myself, both occupied and employed. We get a rush as we hit small jackpots, intermittent success stories that keep the chips flowing our way. These games are multileveled and peppered with complex political mines. When funding for a new or established gaming house is threatened, a rally is organized and we venti1ate our frustration to the D.C. gaming commissioners saying, "Stop this nonsense and let the games begin!" Eaeh year our redeemed head count improves the welfare of virtual world Hawaiians. Meanwhile, after years of spending millions of dollars, the issues of the real world Hawaiians remain the same: Heakh, education, housing, alienation from the 'aina, etc. Although countless players have already capitalized on these issues, after years of a relatively core group, we are finding new players in town. Some have sincere altruistic motives, while others are opportunists who use Hawaiians to supplement their budgets. Here, like other institutions an

arcade is developing. As a seasoned gamer, this bothers me. Where is the security for this multi-million-dol-lar industry generated from Hawaiian monies? Where are the hidden cams? The two way mirrors? The roving p!ainclothes puka pants poliee? Where is the accountability to the real world Hawaiians? Has the government become so effective at subliminally sedating and altering our consciousness that we are

unaware of what we are really doing? There's got to be a better way. I pau play. Editor's note: Kamuela Aea was the coordinator of Kula Nā'li'i, The Native Hawaiian Community Based Education Learning Center at Kaua'i Community College. He is currently involved with real world educational activities and ean be contacted at kaea@mail.kauaicc hawaii.edu. ■

Ho'ona'aūao O i O r V II (3 11 \ \

Kalo hui planter reconnecting to the 'ōina