This experiential learning resource was developed to encourage empathy and develop critical thinking in the user. The software helps you gain some understanding of how people live in other parts of the world and in different cultures. Based on a database of statistics on 190 countries, Real Lives personalises the facts, making them meaningful and emotionally engaging. You get a sense of the life of someone living within the constraints or privileges that the numbers represent.

Real Lives has been designed as a stand-alone program using a Windows style interface and runs off a database. The learner can interact with it in two ways - in a linear, chronological order, dealing with “events” as they happen, or in a more active, random way by using the interface as a kind of “control panel” for their life.

The decision to use the familiar Windows interface means interaction is easy and intuitive. Information is laid out in a number of customisable windows. It is presented in various formats - a table, a graph, maps, lists, icon buttons and drop down menus. This spread of information and range of methods for interaction could be a challenge for less computer literate learners, but for the target audience of high school students it is probably welcome as it encourages clicking and exploring. The most important buttons - “Age a Year” and “Revert to Age” are very large and prominent and the game can be played using just these.

In its current form most of the action in the game occurs in the form of pop-up text boxes – the kind normally associated with Windows error messages. For individual users, the game’s success depends on a reasonable level of literacy and a somewhat abstract learning style that allows them to visualise a “life” using the text and data. For these learners the experience will be rewarding. As time goes on I imagine elements such as graphics, video and audio will be added and this will see it become accessible to a wider group of learners and make it an even more engaging learning resource for everyone. At present it is an example of how to create a simulation environment without visual or multimedia bells and whistles.

A good facilitator who encourages discussion and interprets information where necessary, could make the game a dynamic teaching tool in the classroom. It would be a great springboard for students to do their own research. To start them off, each character comes with a set of links to websites about their country’s culture, food, politics - even its Lonely Planet guide.

After clicking “Live” your life begins to build. You can allow the software to create a life randomly or you can choose attributes such as your country of birth and your genetic characteristics. You are given your parents’ names and ages, a map and statistics. Information such as infant mortality, male and female literacy rates and wealth per capita is displayed. Life starts to happen one year at a time. You can make decisions about events as they happen, or you can take life by the horns and use the “actions” menu to borrow money, adopt a child or divorce your spouse.

OK. Here goes…. I am Tan-Malaka Djojohadiksumo, a boy born in Kupang, Nusa Tenggara Timur Province in Indonesia. By the time I am one year old my growth has been stunted as a result of a lack of protein. When I’m four my mother dies of ovarian cancer. At six I start school and my father recovers from depression. At 13 I start a romance with Anggaratri Bintang. Two years later she dumps me. My life seems to have been plagued by constant fires which, miraculously, I have always managed to survive. At 29 I contract malaria, but hang on until I am 46 when I finally succumb to accidental poisoning.

I have another go…. this time I am a boy named Feng, born in Anqing in China's Anhui Province. I have no brothers or sisters. At eleven I get food poisoning and whooping cough and my mother finds a job as a factory worker. By 19 my parents are dead, I have a sister and I’m in the middle of a major financial crisis. The pop-up window says:

“Your expenses are greater than your income. What action will you take?”

I try to reduce my spending - but I’m already on starvation rations.

“Your expenses are greater than your income. What action will you take?”

I try to get a loan, but I’m refused.

“Your expenses are greater than your income. What action will you take?”

I am already a “scavenger of used goods” and an “odd jobs man” but I manage to get a third job as a caretaker. Unfortunately my expenses are still 10 times what I am earning and the game seems to have come to a complete standstill. After about 20 attempts to get out of this miserable situation I get bored and try to start a new life.

Problem is I can’t get out of this incessant loop of pop-up windows. I can’t click “Start a new life,” I can’t even shut down the program! In the end I actually have to Control-Alt-Delete out of the game. It made a point I suppose (where is the Control-Alt-Delete in real life!?) but thankfully I didn’t come across this bug in any of my later incarnations.

To cheer myself up I experiment with the “Character Design” function to pick my place of birth. This time I am born Tracie Kelley in Sydney, Australia.

Before I am one year old my father contracts TB. Then there’s a fire. Then a tropical storm. Then another fire. At 15 (after so many fires and storms I’m assuming I live in a concrete bunker surrounded by the debris that used to be Sydney) I am kicked out of home for insisting on seeing my boyfriend against my parents’ wishes. I am dead at 18 from ovarian cancer.

I realise, looking back at my life, that things could have been oh so different if only I had made other decisions. This is where the “Revert to Age” function comes in handy, it lets you really understand the “cause and effect” aspect of the game. I go back to age 15 and drop the boyfriend my parents disliked so much. I get into university and become a scientist. This time I make it to ninety before I die of epilepsy (having survived about 250 fires).

The program’s strength is the fact that the lives are built from a database of accurate statistics. This is also its weakness. The saying “There’s lies, damned lies and statistics” seems to apply here. Yes, maybe Australia does have X number of fires and cyclones a year, but does this really reflect the experience of an individual living in Sydney? Would they even be aware of a fraction of all these fires and storms? Unfortunately this made me question the authenticity of my other lives just a little.

It’s a versatile resource - it can be used alone, collaboratively and as a class. One lesson plan has students taking full advantage of the benefits of the Internet by using the free educational collaborative technology ePals to communicate with a school in the country that they are studying.

“Real Lives” would be particularly good for social studies and computer classes. The software can be used on most PCs running Windows 95 or later and Macs running Virtual PC. The website offers lesson plans, a tour and a free 14 day trial.