The 3D game was developed by GRiN of Antwerp, on a commission from the King Baudouin Foundation, with the support of a number of other groups and the Institute for Broadband Technology.

The scenario is simple. You're 18 years old, have an elaborate haircut, trousers like Tintin used to wear and a burning desire for independence. Despite the protests of your father, you decide to make a life for yourself in the big city. From then on, you have to cope with a number of situations involving your own poverty or that of those around you, like dodging your landlord, surviving on pot noodles and maintaining your elaborate haircut.

It's not clear which city you're in, though it looks in parts like Brussels. The people all walk as if they were trying it for the first time (walking, even in this technologically advanced age, is still one of the hardest things for animators to get right), and everyone has his or her own brightly lit circle to stand in.

Poverty is Not a Game all seems a bit unlikely: the boy (in one of the versions) finds an apartment, a job and even a girlfriend (see picture), whom he takes to dinner before snogging (suggesting his father had nothing to worry about in the first place). Other young people might, however, find their own rite of passage slightly harder, so the game may raise some mistaken expectations.

The game is available in five languages, including English, though the sort of English that has young Jim explain, when asked how long he's been interested in technology: "Computers are just my cup of tea".

Ping, as they're calling it, is influenced by The Sims, according to Wim Wouters, head of GriN. "Everything takes place in a city made up of seven areas. It also has something of Grand Theft Auto about it, but then without the violence," he said.

Ping will be distributed to schools on CD-ROM and available to play online at www.povertyisnotagame.com from 20 October.

www.grin.be/ping