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Australian Game Simulates Prison Escapes

Posted by simoniker on from the escape-to-neighbours dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Australian newspaper The Age is running a story about a computer game that simulates real detention centers, inviting players to find a way to escape. The game uses actual Australian detention center layouts, and simulates things like the exact time that meals occur and "episodic violence". The kicker is that the project is sponsored by an arts group that has just received $25,000 in Australian government funding to develop the game."

12 of 31 comments (clear)

  1. In the immortal words of Sean Connery by Joe+the+Lesser · · Score: 2, Funny

    'Welcome to the Rock.'

    --
    "I only speak the truth"
    Karma: null(Mostly affected by an unassigned variable)
  2. Easy to prevent in the US... by Danse · · Score: 4, Funny

    If this were in the US, then all the state would have to do is make the inmates wear uniforms with a copyrighted work printed on them. Then if you make a program that aids in circumventing access controls to the prisoners... :)

    --
    It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
  3. Amusing by Wingchild · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I can't figure out what the overall goal of the original grant was; were they trying to design some kind of simulation that guards could use in order to figure out how to best deal with complicated, changing environments, much as the United States Army uses game-like simulators to prep for realtime battle conditions?

    Or are they trying to make some sort of weird MMORPG out of the jail environment? I mean, it's a frontier that hasn't actually been touched yet. I don't know any MMORPG where you can be an inmate and relive your deepest, darkest OZ fantasies.

    Hell, either way kinda works out for the powers that be. As players find new ways to escape, the administration can fix them in the real prison, then release a patch fixing it in the game as well.. ;) I sure do wonder how they're going to stop inmates that have a wallhack, though.

    1. Re:Amusing by buffer-overflowed · · Score: 3, Funny

      There's probably a MOO or MUSH out there that does simulate/take place in a jail, with you as an inmate.

      [sarcasm] What's with you kids and your requirement for graphics? Back in the day we used to bugger people in prison in plain text, and we liked it! [/sarcasm]

      And, if you figure out how to turn on no-clipping mode in real life, please, please let us all know.

      --
      The key to the enjoyment of pop music is to replace any instance of "love" with "C.H.U.D."
  4. Escape? by Nick+Harkin · · Score: 2, Funny

    ` To open the console.
    Noclip /Clipping Mode Off/

    This game shouldn't take to long now.... ;)

  5. Right by HopeUnknown · · Score: 4, Insightful
    The game uses actual Australian detention center layouts, and simulates things like the exact time that meals occur and "episodic violence".

    So games where you mow down armies of monsters with imaginary weapons will poison our childrens minds, but a game that teaches you to escape from real prisons gets government funding? What a wacky world we live in.

  6. Those are immigrant detention centers, not prisons by McMuffin+Man · · Score: 5, Informative

    If I understand correctly (I'm not Austrailian), the sites in question are not prisons which contain Austrailian citizens who have committed crimes, but rather detention centers for unclassified immigrants who may or may not be refugees. The Austrailian government policy towards immigrants is a fairly contentious issue in Austrailian politics, which goes a long way to explain why an arts group might choose to create a game like this.

  7. Woomera not just a "prison" by sakyamuni · · Score: 5, Informative

    There's more irony here than meets the non-Australian eye. The facility at Woomera isn't a normal prison. It's a notorious "detention center" for refugees. The complaints about it and similar prisons in Australia is that people are locked away in horrible conditions and pretty much forgotten. Query Google for some back-story.

  8. Methinks they are missing the obvious by wowbagger · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Methinks they are missing the obvious:
    1. Make realistic game about prisons.
    2. Watch how players effect escapes
    3. Make changes to block those escapes.
    4. Keep bad guys in real jail.
    5. PROFIT!


    Seriously, this could also be good if it helps people realize jail is bad! ("This 5u><0rz! I got gibbed again!")

    Lastly, if you want to prevent escapes:

    "This is your collar. That is the transmitter. Get too far from the transmitter, BOOM! Take hostages, BOOM! Damage transmitter, BOOM!"
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    www.eFax.com are spammers
    1. Re:Methinks they are missing the obvious by i_am_nitrogen · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Lastly, if you want to prevent escapes:

      "This is your collar. That is the transmitter. Get too far from the transmitter, BOOM! Take hostages, BOOM! Damage transmitter, BOOM!"

      So, what would happen in the event of a power failure? All the prisoners with collars would explode, as the collar would lose the signal of the transmitter and think it had wandered too far away.

      --
      A solution to the problem with music today
    2. Re:Methinks they are missing the obvious by wowbagger · · Score: 2, Funny

      First answer: have you ever heard of a back up generator?

      Second answer: So?

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      www.eFax.com are spammers
  9. Future conversation by Craig+Maloney · · Score: 3, Funny

    Guard: The prisoner escaped, sir
    Warden: How did he do it?
    Guard: A walk-through on gamefaqs.com, sir.