Designing Games to Foster Empathy

Jonathan Belman · Mary Flanagan

Wed., June 09, 3:30–4:30, Beefeater

A diverse range of educational and activist programs have been created to foster empathy in participants. For example, it is often a priority in conflict resolution programs to encourage empathy between stakeholders on different sides of conflicts (Kelman, 2005; Rouhana & Kelman, 1994). Similarly, some interventions designed to reduce prejudice function by eliciting feelings of empathy towards victimized groups (Stephan & Finlay, 1999). Even where there is no immediate goal to improve or facilitate intergroup relations, empathy is still regarded as a valuable trait for students to cultivate. This is certainly true for students of history, who benefit from being able to “inhabit the perspectives” of people from other cultures and eras (Brooks, 2009). Educators have also argued that the ability to empathize can be an important asset for students in other disciplines, such as business and law.

Games are particularly well-suited to supporting educational or activist programs in which the fostering of empathy is a key outcome. This is because games allow players to inhabit the roles and perspectives of other people or groups in a uniquely immersive way.

The proposed session is intended as a resource for designers who are interested in using games to elicit empathy. We begin with an overview of what scholars have discovered about empathy, focusing on research in psychology, but also including insights from applied fields like conflict resolution and medical education in which the fostering of empathy is an important goal. The review is not meant to be comprehensive, but rather to help designers to work outside of their field in a way that may have useful applications to their own craft. This is followed by a set of practical heuristic principles derived from the literature which are intended to help designers effectively elicit empathy through specific game features and design strategies. We discuss how these principles are reflected in three games — PeaceMaker, Hush and Layoff — that engage players’ capacity to empathize in innovative and exemplary ways. Finally, we review our work with students who are putting the principles into practice in their own designs.

References

Brooks, S. (2009). Historical empathy in the social studies classroom: A review of the literature. Journal of Social Studies Research, 33(2), 213–234.

Kelman, H. (2005). Building trust among enemies: The central challenge for international conflict resolution. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 29, 639–650.

Rouhana, N., & Kelman, H. (1994). Promoting joint thinking in international conflicts: An Israeli-Palestinian continuing workshop. Journal of Social Issues, 50, 157–178.

Stephan. W., & Finlay, K. (1999). The role of empathy in improving intergroup relations. Journal of Social Issues, 55(4), 729–743.