Sask father makes video game to teach his son about religion

That's a camel. That's your camel? Yeah, and you can ride it pressing on. Five-year-old Roman Matin rides his camel, collects dates, and explores the desert, all from the comfort of his gaming chair. But his favorite part? Playing together with the neighbors. Roman's playing Khalifa, a Minecraft-inspired building game that teaches kids about community, life skills, and Islam. It was created by Roman's dad, Afridi Matin. He wanted to make a fun, safe space for Roman to learn about his religion. So I figured if he's already playing something, why not just get him to play something that he can learn from. Matin is a computer science student at the University of Regina. He wanted his son to have a free game with no ads or strangers. In the game, players work with their neighbours to build a village. They can pray together at the mosque and learn about Islamic traditions. The game launched on October 13th and already has nearly 150 players. Matin says he's noticing the impact it's having on Roman. Recently I noticed that he wants to like do wudu and start praying with us too, so I figured that he is learning from the game. This University of Regina professor says games like Khalifa can be a great way to teach new skills and concepts. Games are obviously quite motivating, they're something that kids turn to all you know very quickly. They're engaging, they have incentives. Kero says immersive games can promote curiosity and imagination and Matin says he plans to keep updating and growing Khalifa so more kids can have fun learning about their faith just like his son. Laura Gillis, CBC News, Regina.