Mobile mother eases foreign student "culture shock"

By Kate Kelland

LONDON (Reuters) - Foreigners studying in Britain but struggling with the culture shock of seeing students kissing and drinking in public are being offered an electronic lifeline.

A mobile phone game called "C-Shock" and devised by a Indian academic aims to help overseas students overcome cultural differences experienced by thousands of foreigners who come to study in British universities.

The game's creator, Nipan Maniar, who came to Britain from India, said he hoped the game would act as an "e-mother" for new arrivals.

"I came here as a student back in 2000. It was my first trip out of my country, the first time I had left my family," Maniar said. "There was no-one I knew, I was in an alien world where people react differently and the whole culture is different."

"One of the first things I saw was a couple kissing in public -- I had never seen anything like this live before. The whole thing was a complete shock. It would have made my life so much easier if I had been introduced to these things in India through some kind of game."

"C-Shock" follows an international student arriving in Britain for the first time. The aim of the game is to reduce the character's "culture shock" rating from a default of 100 to zero by performing a series of tasks involving culture shock-inducing incidents and images.

The game's opening scenario is a student's first day at university. The student is shown a map of the campus and given tasks to find specific locations.

Clicking on images along the way warns the student what to expect in terms of culture shock -- for example students drinking alcohol or engaging in public displays of affection.