A new video game offers gamers the chance to experience life in some Chicago neighborhoods that have been plagued by violence and poverty.

The Chicago-based company that created “We are Chicago” hopes it leads to some long-term solutions to those problems. Michael Block and his team at Culture Shock Gaming worked for four years to produce the gaming experience. Players assume the role of a teenager named Aaron, then make their own choices on how to cope with violence and issues at home.

The purpose of the game is to put kids in thought-provoking situations which require more than a shoot-and-kill mentality to succeed. I can see the intentions of the game being good, but I don’t think this is the answer to our problems in Chicago and around the world.

Our problem begins with parents and ends with economic development.

People rob, murder, and steal from their own because they don’t see a way out. It is comparable to putting a few lions in the same enclosure.

If all of them are being fed, they will not attack each other. However, don’t feed these lions for a few days, they will begin to attack and kill each other. It becomes survival of the fittest. This is the problem we have in Chicago.