Violent video game helps Scots to read

The conspiracy-laden plotline of Deus Ex allows players to make choices which directly affect the outcome and to select the level of stealth or all-out violence.

The interactive nature of the game has enthralled millions of computer game addicts and is now being adapted by education researchers.

The University of Abertay and education agency Learndirect Scotland are producing a new version of the game, aimed at boosting literacy in youths and men aged 16-25.

The game, based on the missions carried out by a fictional secret service agency, will feature 10 levels interspersed with more puzzle-solving memory and verbal reasoning tests.

Research from last year showed 30% of Scots have difficulty with literacy and numeracy to the extent that they would struggle to look up an entry in a phone book, with young men particularly badly affected.

Professor Peter Astheimer, director of the university’s centre for computer games and virtual entertainment, said a successful "blockbuster" game was an innovative way of teaching new skills.

He said: "The game provides a technical workbench for us to create an educational tool. We use a lot of puzzle-solving so the players need to find passwords in order to progress.

"They need to buy things and interact with the computer characters.

"As it progresses there will be more reading and tests and more literacy skills will be involved." Some of the violent content associated with the original game had been toned down, he said.

The two organisations collaborated two years ago with Dundee City Council to produce an educational game available in city schools but this is the first time that a best-selling game has been widely used to help people learn.