NEW YORK –This week, Evolutionary Guidance Media R&D, Inc. unveils a new line of toys and games CYBERHERO LEAGUE® at the North American International Toy Fair on February 17-20, 2018.
The brainchild of award-wining media psychologist and futurist Dr. Dana Klisanin, CYBERHERO LEAGUE® is designed to empower kids with the ability to wield digital technology like a Jedi wields a light saber.
CYBERHERO LEAGUE® product line is based on years of scientific research on the positive use of digital technology and new forms of heroic play that add up to a whole new game genre: Augmented Imaginary Play (AIP). AIP unites technology with physical activity, imagination, and real world impact.
CYBERHERO LEAGUE’s® inaugural products include:
CYBERSHIELD™, the wireless hero device, is a Bluetooth-enabled activity tracker kids sync with the CYBERHERO LEAGUE® App to launch a Hero Adventure game. When kids complete the Hero Adventure, they deliver aid to nonprofit organizations working to achieve the Global Goals. The go-anywhere device can be clipped to wristband, backpacks, shoes, and the new CYBERHERO CAPE™.
CYBERQUEST™ is the educational Hero Adventure game kids play while wearing the CYBERSHIELD™. Each CYBERQUEST™ package includes six collectable Medallions. Kids use the CYBERHERO LEAGUE® App to scan the Medallions and launch a Quest that supports learning across Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM).
After reading a few facts from the game’s App, kids live out an imaginary adventure, powered by their own physical activity—indoors or outdoors. Quest storylines augment their imaginations, rather than discourage it. After completing the Quest, kids sync their physical activity with the App and release aid to others through partnering nonprofit organizations. The first Series of Hero Adventures and partnering nonprofits include:
CYBERHERO CAPE™ is the world’s first cape that literally gives kids the ability to take heroic action on behalf of others while they play. By clipping on the CYBERSHIELD™ even the youngest players can help others while having fun. CYBERHERO CAPE™ is paired with a version of the CYBERHERO LEAGUE® App designed for younger players.
CYBERHERO LEAGUE® products are designed to empower kids by giving them the opportunity to learn about and achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Players hike through imaginary jungles, sail the seven seas, climb the highest mountain peaks, and explore World Heritage Sites, but when the Adventure is over, they earn lifesaving aid for real people, animals, and the environment.
Designer Dr. Klisanin is on a mission to give kids hope for their future. “Kids are more aware of global challenges than ever before – the refugee crisis, climate change, lack of access to basic needs, extinction of species – are just some of the challenges they routinely learn about at school and through the media,” Klisanin says.
“Without the ability to take action, kids run the risk of developing learned helplessness—a condition arising when individuals are repeatedly put into adverse situations they cannot change. Later, when the adverse conditions change, permitting escape, individuals don’t try—because they have learned that there is no escape,” Klisanin says. “Our children are being put into this situation at a time when it is absolutely possible for them to impact the world. Children want to do more than fantasize about being heroes—and today, they can. They just need the tools.”
CYBERHERO LEAGUE® is designed to give them those tools. The term “Cyberhero” comes from Dr. Klisanin’s award-winning scientific research.
Klisanin explains, “I was investigating the positive use of digital technologies and found some people were engaging in digital altruism on a daily basis, sometimes several times per day. Their actions were wide-ranging –providing life-saving aid to people, protecting endangered species and the environment, and supporting social justice issues. There was this ‘Ah ha’ moment in which I realized this as a new form of heroism brought about by digital technology. The Cyberhero archetype came out of this research.”
CYBERHERO LEAGUE® product line will premiere in the United States early August 2018.
Evolutionary Guidance Media R&D, Inc.: New York City-based Evolutionary Guidance Media R&D, Inc. has designed Cyberhero League as the first-ever toys and games to educate while empowering kids with the ability to take real world action while they play. For more information, visit http://www.cyberheroleague.com or Booth #4528 at the 2018 North American International Toy Fair.
For multimedia assets, please visit the Cyberhero League Toy Fair 2018 press kit: http://toyfair.vporoom.com/CyberheroLeague
Twitter: @CyberheroLeague
Media Contact: Marcello Kilani (917) 972-2544, mkilani@cyberheroleague.com
