Why Is “The Great Sperm Race” Unique?
As a teenager, when “educational” was appended to something I assumed would be fun, it immediately lost its appeal. I would assume that a group of adults had seen what people of my age enjoy and then tacked on the educational bits. It would no longer be an enjoyable experience. It felt almost patronising.
Sexual Education takes this to another level, arguably covering an ever more serious subject, it’s typically shrouded by an air of awkwardness which is usually disguised behind classroom comedy or worse, an air of seething silence. In these classroom circumstances, I think the true value of the education is lost in penis and dry humping jokes or straight up embarrassment.
The Great Sperm Race doesn’t let humour impact on the learning experience, we let humour become part of it. For example, about 250 million sperm enter the Vagina, this is a cold hard fact — most sperm die in the Vagina due to their abnormalities. All around the player, weird and wonderful sperm kick and twist their way to an early death, sporting big heads, dual tails, mini heads etc. The comedy in the visual attributes of the sperm is not unrealistic but the colours and shapes in which they’re interpreted means players are asking questions about abnormal sperm, because they want to learn.
We tried to stick to nature as much as possible, in the level design, amount of sperm in each section and numbers of abnormal sperm but, there are things which are not purely fact, they exist as a nod to other gaming classics — such as Pac-Man references in the Cervix.
Players appreciate the subtle education, it was important to us to make the game educational without players having to read any of the text. Interested players have the option of reading game tips and factual snippets in-game and the option exists to find out more in the fully documented PDF text put together by the Wellcome trust. Just by sitting down and taking the decision to play, the player is learning — this is amazing.
Response from players has been very positive, people want to learn. Feeding a player facts in a realm they’re comfortable with, in a way that’s familiar means they’re getting the information in their own time, and in a way that suits them.
In summary — “The Great Sperm Race” is unique because it doesn’t force education, yet it doesn’t stray too far from the facts, it’s non-threatening and inoffensive yet still a valid game that’s consistently ranked highly online.
