Tap That: Sex ed through a mobile game

MANILA, Philippines – Peiying Feng wants to teach you about sex by letting you one day play a game on your mobile phone.

As part of her thesis project, she is developing a mobile game for Android and iOS that aims to teach players about various sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and treatment or management of those particular cases.

According to Feng’s portfolio, the game features players as guardian angels for sexually active people.

“This becomes challenging as there is a monster who is intent on eating your human charges by infecting the humans that come into contact with your charges with sexually transmitted infections,” a description for the game says.

Players are then tasked with using a number of tools to keep their charges in good health until they manage to starve the monster to death.

Tap That tasks users with treating or managing the eventual arrival of a number of possible infections: chlamydia; gonorrhea; hepatitis A, B, or C; herpes; HPV; HIV; or syphilis. If a player does the appropriate actions to treat a person, they can use a condom power-up to prevent the disease from spreading to their partner. 

In a paper explaining Tap That, Feng wrote, “Sex is supposed to be a positive experience. So why shouldn’t sex education be as well?”

Feng was inspired to build the game due to the inadequate amount of sex education in the places she’s lived in, something she wishes to change with her game. 

In an interview with The Daily Dot, Feng said, “I remember two embarrassing sex-ed classes in Canada, and then it was back to China where there was nothing.” Feng moved back to China at age 14, attending college there before moving to New York for grad school.

Here’s to hoping this future game catches the attention of teens, parents, and teachers everywhere. – Rappler.com