Grafitti

7news stories:

"'We have fought the release of this game, which urges players to indulge in graffiti `to make a statement', since its existence was first brought to our notice in August last year.'

Mr Bell said Australian councils spent up to $60 million a year removing graffiti."

I can't believe I am saying this because I abhor grafitti. Thre is a legitimate graffiti art which one rarely sees. Most graffiti just ruis peoples fences, bus stops, buildings...it's just scribble. However, I rememeber there was a country ages ago which supplied big boards around the place and the kids were allowed to graffiti those. It supposedly lessened the graffiti elsewhere. Which country??? Is the system still working? Would the game perhaps absorb the graffiti kids and let them express their scribble in a legitimate, non offensive, anti social way? Virtual graffiti instead of real grafitti. If we spend that much on cleaning up graffiti then maybe we need an outlet and one that channels the kids. A game might work. Which means I want tests. Case studies. Experiments. I agree if graffiti is illegal and we have harsh penalties for it we can't just let the game ontothe market. I do think we need to stay constructive in our thinking towards graffiti because we have a number of programmes which work and have lessened the impact and have changed behaviour.