The Ballarat and District Aboriginal Cooperative has partnered with Cafs and Indigenous Outreach Projects to create a film warning youth from all demographics about the dangers of gaming and gaming addiction.
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The film is being created in BADAC's new media centre using cameras and other equipment purchased through a Creative Victoria grant last year.
Through the initiative, Indigenous Outreach Projects will mentor and support Aboriginal and vulnerable youth to learn or improve their movie making and editing skills.
The goal of the film is to educate young people about taking a break from gaming and to encourage them to get outside and socialise.
BADAC Koori youth engagement officer Nikki Bell said she had heard of some youth that would spend upwards of eight hours a day playing a single game.
"That's eight hours away from their friends and, most of the time, they're talking about their families as well, that they're missing out on special moments with their families and I think that's really starting to hit them when they're thinking about it, which is really important for that family and friend connection," she said.
"We did an online youth group and we were chatting to the kids and all they wanted to talk about was gaming. The whole time it was just gaming so it's kind of taking focus away from trying to talk about culture and things.
"They just want to talk about gaming so it's beginning to be a problem and just with their phones, they're always on their phones and they're missing out on that contact with people and I think that is a struggle within community where kids don't know how to talk to each other then and talk to elders and things like that."
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Ms Bell said there were also conversations about the positives that video games could bring.
"A lot do want to get into creating games and things like that so the positive side of gaming, which is amazing," she said.
"They're talking about the art and creativeness behind the games which is good. There are positives and negatives in everything so figuring out the good and the bad is really important for them."
Cafs Gambler's Help community engagement officer John Bradshaw said the proliferation of gambling elements in video games, such as loot boxes and virtual currency, was also becoming an issue.
"We realise that young people, indigenous people and non-indigenous people, are spending way too much time on their screens when they could be doing other things and because they're on their screens up a lot, they're exposed to gambling elements within games," he said.
"This project is all about getting kids off their screens, getting outside and doing different things and it's all about balance.
"If they're doing different things, they won't be on their games so much and, often, it's not the money they spend but it's the time that they lose when they're not with their mates so that's really important to recognise as well."
By getting Aboriginal and vulnerable youth to help create the film, it instills the film's message in them but also helps them get out of their comfort zone.
Indigenous Outreach Projects team manager Michael Farah said a goal of the project was to mentor and upskill young people.
"Our mottos are 'no shame, be proud, respect', and we take them through that journey a little bit," he said.
"If you were here yesterday morning, they told me to get stuffed. I had one young fellow go, 'I'm not going to be in front of the camera and I'm not going to sing', just like that.
"His biggest thing, the breakthrough for us, was that he was scared of what people think about him. I'm like, 'well, we're not doing anything wrong so what's there to be scared of?'
"That same young fellow, he's in the skit, he wrote half the song and I know he's gonna smash it on the mic and I know he's gonna smash it in front of the camera."
Ms Bell said the youth had also talked about their apprehension in taking part in projects like this.
"They're really getting right down to the core of themselves and figuring out what they can do and how they can push themselves to do that which is really amazing because a lot of our youth can feel shame, so they stop themselves from doing things like this, so it's awesome to see them pushing themselves and reaching into see what they can create," she said.
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