Paid to game: New 24/7 gaming centre slatted to stop teen crime

The idea, started by a Cairns youth worker, will aim to get young people “to stop stealing cars and to start making money playing e-sports."

The project will target bringing in young people during peak crime times after 5pm.

Work has begun on setting up a not-for-profit 24/7 gaming centre in Cairns that advocates hope will reduce youth crime and help out special needs children at the same time.

“The idea is to get kids affected by family violence off the streets and out of crime and into playing video games to educate and empower them,” project founder Sabrina Tooley said.

Several local business leaders are on board to assist finding a suitable location for the Safe Gaming Project, which has promised to help provide a dedicated space for the Safe Gaming Project. The project, which was looking at being based in Woree - but will most likely open in the Cairns CBD, also has several occupational therapists, clinicians and educators are also working for it as well as a consultant from New York.

“Many young people engaged in crime do not have a safe place to go. This would also be a place where they could shower, grab a nutritious meal and watch Netflix.”

The Safe Gaming Project is about to start advertising for positions for an upcoming pilot program.

Sabrina Tooley and Sean Diehm hope a 24/7 gaming centre will reduce youth crime.

“But we envisage that young people themselves be employed in the program to work with their peers.”

One of the Safe Gaming Project’s Occupational therapists, Sean Diehm, has been analysing Cairns crime data to see when the centre could be most helpful.

“We are looking at between 11 pm and 1 am for the main times when young people are committing violent, break and enter, and car thefts…but really any time after 5 pm, the risk of crime heightens.”

Mr Diehm said gaming “has become a way for people to socialise that is different from traditional interaction methods. The project aims to provide safe alternatives for at-risk kids that may not have a safe home environment, and determine whether a safe space to go would change their behaviour”.

The centre would run 24 hours a day but will target specific times to provide a place for young people to be engaged at the centre.

Esports is also big business; reportedly a $1.3 billion industry with thousands of teams competing across dozens of games in the space and top earners now worth over $7 million.

“Why would they steal cars for zero benefit when they could make money playing video games?” Ms Tooley said.

Video games are used commonly in school curicullum and youth reduction programs in the United States.

The youth worker said she imagined the centre helping young offenders and people with special needs develop into esports players who can get sponsors and/or prizemoney playing games like Call of Duty, Counter-Strike, Rocket, League of Legends and Mortal Kombat

Ms Tooley said the idea began, “My son was angry and at home. He had no friends and was bullied online, where a sexual predator also targeted him.

She said she hired a worker through the NDIS who played games with her son, and what she found was that some structure to the gaming “developed his speech and language, and his motor and online social skills.”

She then put up a post about running a pilot program using video games to build skills for young people, and she said she had “50 mothers in 50 minutes reply”.

After many nights thinking through the problem of youth crime, Ms Tooley began to realise how else video games could be used for.

“Video games and technology are used widely in America to reduce youth crime, and it’s even part of the school curriculum over there”

Occupational therapist Mr Diehm agrees: “Gaming provides a great deal of pleasure and reward for people. The centre would be a place for kids to relax and feel good. We have used video games at our clinic for people with neuro-development conditions to help improve their confidence in social situations.”

Engaging young people in “rewarding” games like Call of Duty at a new gaming centre would channel their energy and potentially lead them to new careers in coding, content creation or, as professional game players say, those beyond the project.

“The positive outcomes of gaming for young people outweigh the risks of gaming addiction. Our mission is also to Educate & Empower kids to be better online citizens”

Ms Tooley said gaming was part of the school curriculum in parts of the United States, and gaming could help young offenders learn to read, write and do maths with gaming, initially guided by a youth worker. They even do cool things like Drone Racing.

She said they still require more funding to ensure the project gets up and running.

“I’m pitching it local and interstate companies especially insurance companies, I would hate to see the impact on those organisations right now. I don’t want this to be associated with authority figures like the police. I am hoping local businesses will pitch in because of the toll youth crime has on the community”.

Originally published as Paid to game: New 24/7 gaming centre slatted to stop teen crime