3 Reasons I Love SuperMe

I absolutely love Channel 4's latest games project, SuperMe.

As someone whose recent reading list includes Happiness Hypothesis, Stumbling on Happiness, Delivering Happiness, The Architecture of Happiness and various works by Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi it's fair to say I have a massive interest in the theories of what makes one feel good.

SuperMe is a collection of games, quizzes, videos and tips aimed at educating teens on how to feel good about themselves. It's about dealing with failure, coping with the knocks life brings and recognising the powers we already have within ourselves to achieve a state of happiness. I won't go into detail about how it does that, you'll just have to go play. As good games should be it's really easy to engage (you'll be gripped in seconds) and has multiple layers for deeper engagement.

Other than it being a brilliant game there are 3 other reasons why I love it:

1. It's the best bit of public service media aimed at teens you will see this year. Full stop.

2. It's Channel 4 perfecting the excellent work they've been doing around education for some time. If what they've done so far is to be seen as the working out then this really is the answer. I think they've really nailed the balance needed to make difficult subjects engaging through play. 

3. And most importantly it's worked for me and my son who has recently been having one of those rubbish moments life occasionally brings. For week's I've been trying to simplify and impart my learnings from all the books I've read on the subject. It's not been easy. This has suddenly made my life a whole lot easier. It's all there, in simplistic terms, with videos of great people as real-life examples of how happiness can be achieved. Win!!!

So last night I was into my 4th hour of SuperMe (it's research I tell you) when my son looked over my shoulder. "You still playing that game?" has asked as he tore his eyes away from Call of Duty for the briefest moment. "Give it here, I'll show you how it's done" he said dropping his controller. Anything that stops my son's pursuit of a Tactical Nuke in favour of finding happiness is all good in my house... Unless of course you're chasing a 'Wisdom Achievement', which I was. "Nah, it's OK son. Stick to COD for now, you can play this later".

Well done to everyone at Channel 4 Education, Something Else and Preloaded.

Comments

[Marco]

Wow, I totally disagree. Teaching teens to seek answers in self-help or 'how to happy' or goal setting is fatal.

Many people would scream with disbelief, but I would say the worst thing you can ever do in life is set yourself goals. I think goal orientation is an absolute disaster in life.

Two things happen - one you don't meet your goals so you call yourself a failure.
Secondly, you meet your goal and say well I'm here - now what? Keep chasing an 'answer'?

No, let teens enjoy the thrills, spills and pills of their youth and let the self help systems wait until the mid life crisis.

[hugh garry]

If ever there was a time in life that you need to know that failure isn't such a bad thing it's through your teen years. I agree that teens need to have a free spirit and enjoy that period to the max but it's a crucial time for shaping the rest of your life.

Two of my favourite books as a teen were Jonathan Livingston Seagull and The Little Prince, both helped shape the person I am today. Without them I would have had nothing to guide me other than my parents. If games like SuperMe can help teens realise that failure is a learning process and not a dead end as you suggest then that's a big WIN for public service broadcasting and teens.

[Jo Roach]

Thanks Huey, I'm really pleased that love the project! Hope you don't mind me jumping in with some thoughts for Marco.

Eep, self-help? That's not what this project is. Foremost it's a game, and a fun one, one that includes celebs and comedy and animation. A game that teaches teens resilience, which is the ability to bounce back from difficulties. Resilience is being taught in 37 UK schools and the analysis of how it is impacting those schools is very positive. Not only is it improving the happiness and resilience of the teenagers, but also the teachers. And there is a marked improvement in the culture of the school, for example reduced of levels of bullying.

One of the things we tried very hard to get across is the importance of failure, and how screwing up is useful on the road to successes, small and large. This is especially powerful coming from famous TV presenters and musicians, international models and footballers. Particularly when 70% of young girls in their early teens claim to want to be famous or models, because that's what happiness is perceived to be.

Jo (Exec Producer of SuperMe)

[Mike Hawkyard]

I agree - great work. What I particularly like is the design of the website itself. It is really nice to see a game set in great website as opposed to being dumped in a box in the middle of the screen. The difference this makes is huge for the users first impression - and with online games, first impressions count.

Achievements are also key to keeping people playing for longer across multiple games and encouraging sign up. I know the BBC team are considering this for their Games Grid. If you could help nudge this along...!

PS. Your son plays CoD? Don't forget to call him a noobtube at every possible moment as it will really annoy him.