A winged avatar dressed in blue ... It is via this virtual emissary, met in the heart of "Fortnite", the famous online game, that more than 350 children or adolescents, abused or suffering, have been able to discreetly confide in "real" adults during confinement.
The association L'Enfant bleu, which has piloted this previously unknown secret experience, hopes that it can serve as a springboard for a lasting device, so that video games become a means for children in danger of giving alert.
An avatar called "Blue Child"
For Laura Morin, the director of the association, the challenge is to respond to the "number one challenge" faced by those who help minors who are abused: "allow the child to speak, and adults to identify that 'there is a problem ". However, “young people do not use the same media as we adults. We have to adapt and find new ways to get in touch with them, ”continues Laure Morin.
To do this, the association's volunteers entered the virtual world of Fortnite as a character called "Blue Child", and took turns to make him "live" for a month, every day until '' at 10:30 p.m. Mission of this avatar: to respond to young players, connected at the same time as him, who wanted to talk to him about their personal problems.
1,200 children or adolescents have contacted the avatar
In total, in one month, 1,200 children or adolescents, from 10 to 17 years old, contacted the winged figure, an "extraordinary" figure, according to Laura Morin. In the majority of cases, the young people clicked only out of curiosity, but 30% of them "confided in more or less serious personal problems", and "some reported being in a situation of extreme urgency ", Specifies the association, which has sometimes been able to direct them towards other specialized structures, such as those fighting against school bullying for example.
For the experience to work, young players still had to be informed of the possibility open to them ... but without their parents, who were potentially abusive, being aware of it themselves. The promoters of the project did not communicate with the mainstream media, but appealed to influencers known to the world of "gamers".
"It's the right channel, the right vocabulary so that we can be clearly understood by the children who need it, without arousing the attention of those who mistreat them," summarizes Fabrice Plazolles, from the communications agency Havas Sports. & Entertainment, which piloted the operation.
Discretion towards parents
Via a partnership with professional e-sport teams, or with influencers with millions of subscribers, messages presenting the device and detailing how to recognize the avatar were broadcast on Snapchat and Instagram, as well as on the platform Twitch which broadcasts live video game games.
So many media where the presence of the parents was unlikely: “given that the children were confined and had no other means of raising the alarm, it would have been dramatic if a parent had noticed the device and cut the 'access to the console', notes Fabrice Plazolles. "If you are the victim of any form of violence, add the Epic EnfantBleu account on Fortnite to chat discreetly," suggested the messages.
An "encouraging track" to facilitate the speaking out of abused children
In the end, the operation made it possible to confirm that video games constitute an "encouraging track" to facilitate the speaking of children who are abused, observes Laure Morin. But it is now a question of going further, and thinking about how to include this track in the long term, she adds.
To do this, a working group was set up: around the Blue Child, it will bring together from September representatives of video game publishers, magistrates and specialized police officers, as well as the State Secretariat for the Protection of childhood. “What we hope is to offer one more tool in the arsenal available to children to call for help. By adopting their point of view, ”insists the director of the association.
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- By the Web
- Confinement
- Fortnite
- Child
- Violence
- Abuse
- Video games