Games that teach with Empathy
Games that employ empathy
to teach better lessons.
In this blog, I'm going to talk about empathy in games. Specifically, how they accomplish teaching you through empathy. I hope to inspire game designers to also teach through empathy and give you ideas on how to accomplish this principle. I'll do this by showing you a couple of examples of games in the market as well as some projects that I've made while being at the HKU. I have always been very interested in teaching people something different from games, something that can be very hard to communicate with just words. This has been a recurring theme in most of my projects. Even though I am a game artist, I've always been interested in that type of design in games and made sure that was more to the game than just "fun". This is especially so when you can make a game that people play for fun, but end up learning a whole lot more.
There are few articles or lists that put these games together, nor do they talk about this specific subject. To me, this subject is a very interesting one when it comes to teaching through games. Most games that are designed to teach people are teaching something concrete, something you can measure, a certain skill level or level of knowledge. However, teaching something that cannot be measured other than the players saying they've learned something from it, can be just as important. In some cases, it may be the only way to teach certain things.
For example, a subject I've always been interested in is mental health. Mental health can be explained in words to help you understand, but you will never really know what it's like or how it could take over someone's life. Now maybe this is not possible unless you've gone through the same or similar thing yourself, but I do believe games can help people to better understand certain mental health aspects.
There are few articles or lists that put these games together, nor do they talk about this specific subject. To me, this subject is a very interesting one when it comes to teaching through games. Most games that are designed to teach people are teaching something concrete, something you can measure, a certain skill level or level of knowledge. However, teaching something that cannot be measured other than the players saying they've learned something from it, can be just as important. In some cases, it may be the only way to teach certain things.
For example, a subject I've always been interested in is mental health. Mental health can be explained in words to help you understand, but you will never really know what it's like or how it could take over someone's life. Now maybe this is not possible unless you've gone through the same or similar thing yourself, but I do believe games can help people to better understand certain mental health aspects.
To begin giving you ideas about empathy and what it can do with your game, I'll be giving two examples of games that I've personally played as well. After that, I'll be giving certain examples from my own projects and what my ideas were for an end result and how I tried to accomplish that.
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
Description:
A warrior’s brutal journey into myth and madness. Set in the Viking age, a broken Celtic warrior embarks on a haunting vision quest into Viking Hell to fight for the soul of her dead lover.
Developer:
Ninja Theory.
Awards:
The Game Award for Best Performance - 2017
The Game Awards - Games for Impact Award - 2017
The Game Award for Best Audio Design - 2017
Illness:
Psychosis.
I have to start off by saying that this game has garnered such critical acclaim for a reason: it did what it needed to do very well. Psychosis is a very difficult thing to understand from an outsiders view. Psychosis is an abnormal condition of the mind that makes it difficult to tell what is real and what is not. Any person suffering a psychosis episode might experience it differently. This is of course quite common with many illnesses, but that is also the reason why it is so hard to explain and communicate to others exactly what it's like. All you can do is try to depict a picture that might help others to understand because this game was also critiqued on how it depicted psychosis.
Psychosis includes a range of symptoms but typically involves one of these two major experiences:
Hallucinations are seeing, hearing or feeling things that aren’t there, such as the following:
- Hearing voices (auditory hallucinations)
- Strange sensations or unexplainable feelings
- Seeing glimpses of objects or people that are not there or distortions
Delusions are strong beliefs that are not consistent with the person’s culture, are unlikely to be true and may seem irrational to others, such as the following:
- Believing external forces are controlling thoughts, feelings and behaviours
- Believing that trivial remarks, events or objects have personal meaning or significance
- Thinking you have special powers, are on a special mission or even that you are God.
Ninja Theory made it a little easier on our quest on how they made this game the way it is.
In the video below (Behind the Scenes of Hellbalde: Senua's Sacrifice) they talk about their choices and techniques in making the game. They talk about character design as well as sound design and the importance of research/ talking with a focus group that experienced a psychosis.
Times:
5:55 - Art Inspiration
5:55 - Art Inspiration
8:41 - Senua
12:50 - Creating the world
17:59 - Business of creation
22:17 - Camera, Controls & Combat
26:31 - Creating cover art
31:19 - Prototyping Phase
36:53 - The Music
44:14 - Capturing Performance
50:20 - First Playable
55:23 - The mind of Senua
1:04:24 - Creating the story
1:12:48 - New perspectives
1:18:03 - Binaural Audio Test
1:21:36 - The face of Senua
1:21:36 - The face of Senua
1:26:17 - A new body
1:29:32 - The shoot setup
1:35:35 - Atmospheric VFX
1:41:56 - Movement & control
1:47:39 - Diary 21: Making a virtual human
1:54:12 - Dairy 22: Combat revisited | Part 1
1:59:25 - Dairy 23: Combat revisited | Part 2
2:07:01 - Dairy 24: Hearing voices
2:13:56 - Diary 26: Myths & Madness
2:16:40 - Talking about Psychosis
2:21:16 - Dairy 27: Senua's Soundscape
2:27:29 - Dairy 28: The face behind the voices
2:34:07 - Senua's psychosis
In the timings above you can see the timestamps of the video of subjects you might like to know more about, I've marked those that talk about psychosis and those that helped to create these effects.
1:29:32 - The shoot setup
1:35:35 - Atmospheric VFX
1:41:56 - Movement & control
1:47:39 - Diary 21: Making a virtual human
1:54:12 - Dairy 22: Combat revisited | Part 1
1:59:25 - Dairy 23: Combat revisited | Part 2
2:07:01 - Dairy 24: Hearing voices
2:13:56 - Diary 26: Myths & Madness
2:16:40 - Talking about Psychosis
2:21:16 - Dairy 27: Senua's Soundscape
2:27:29 - Dairy 28: The face behind the voices
2:34:07 - Senua's psychosis
In the timings above you can see the timestamps of the video of subjects you might like to know more about, I've marked those that talk about psychosis and those that helped to create these effects.
The video above shows the decisions they made in a project like Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice and what those decisions were based on. The research that went into the game reflects greatly on its outcome, therefore it cannot be overlooked on its importance.
As previously mentioned, I think it's very interesting how Ninja Theory set up this project and made it the way it is. I had the pleasure of experiencing the game myself, before seeing how it was made. I got the game for its story and amazing animation that was shown in their clips on Steam. The storyline included psychosis, so I had an idea that it would be reflected in the game, yet I couldn't imagine that it would've reflected so well. I was taken by surprise on how much the constant flow of voices coming from all over affected me, how I had to take a break from the game after playing for an hour or two because it felt like "too much". When it becomes overwhelming, I can exit the game whenever I want, but people with psychosis can't exit their episode when it suits them. For me, I think that was the most revealing part about psychosis, the amount of mental energy it costs to live with it. That’s aside from how much energy it would cost them to try to explain it to people and hope they understand.
This is definitely a game you want to be looking at if you want to know more about how you can implement such a mental illness, all while drawing the player in and making it connect to the character for understanding. That's not to mention the feedback it got from those that had psychosis or those that were affected by it indirectly.
Links:
Wikipedia about Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice.
Wikipedia about Psychosis.
Article on (early) psychosis.
4. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/psychosis/
Psychosis and what it's about.
5. http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/conditions/psychosis
America's mental health institution about Psychosis.
4. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/psychosis/
Psychosis and what it's about.
5. http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/conditions/psychosis
America's mental health institution about Psychosis.
Spec Ops: The Line
Description:
A Third-Person modern military Shooter designed to challenge players' morality by putting them in the middle of unspeakable situations.
Developer:
Yager development
Awards:
No awards here.
Illness:
Post-traumatic stress syndrome // questioning morality and ethics.
Setting Scene: It’s been 6 months since Dubai was wiped off the map by a cataclysmic sandstorm. Thousands of lives were lost, including those of American soldiers sent to evacuate the city. Today, the city lies buried under sand, the world’s most opulent ruin. Now, a mysterious radio signal is picked-up from Dubai, and a Delta Recon Team is sent to infiltrate the city. Their mission is simple: Locate survivors and radio for Evac. What they find is a city in the grip of war. To save Dubai, they’ll have to find the man at the heart of its madness—Col. John Konrad.
Despite this being a shooter, the storyline stands out. With four different endings and choices that you as a player have to make - sometimes feel forced to make - this game lets you think differently about a war.
Even years after its release (2012) people still talk about the storyline and how it could be interpreted. I'll link to some explanations from people who think they got what the story wanted to tell us. On some points, we are helped by the developer themselves, on what they were supposed to illustrate or how they see certain key points in the story. Because of these many interpretations, there are also many critiques about this game, things people think they could've done better or didn't have to put in there.
For myself, after playing the game I had a feeling as if this was a story of a soldier that couldn't come to terms with what he had done in war. Therefore, PTSD. There were many moments where I felt forced to do certain actions that I absolutely didn't want to do. It felt like I had to do these things and it was a portrait of how soldiers need to do certain things for their country and simply have no real choice. Imagine my surprise with the game's ending. Despite being able to end the game in 4 different ways they all seem to land on the same idea: nothing was what it seemed. You are truly left with a heavy feeling in your chest as you try to process what you've just done.
Even years after its release (2012) people still talk about the storyline and how it could be interpreted. I'll link to some explanations from people who think they got what the story wanted to tell us. On some points, we are helped by the developer themselves, on what they were supposed to illustrate or how they see certain key points in the story. Because of these many interpretations, there are also many critiques about this game, things people think they could've done better or didn't have to put in there.
For myself, after playing the game I had a feeling as if this was a story of a soldier that couldn't come to terms with what he had done in war. Therefore, PTSD. There were many moments where I felt forced to do certain actions that I absolutely didn't want to do. It felt like I had to do these things and it was a portrait of how soldiers need to do certain things for their country and simply have no real choice. Imagine my surprise with the game's ending. Despite being able to end the game in 4 different ways they all seem to land on the same idea: nothing was what it seemed. You are truly left with a heavy feeling in your chest as you try to process what you've just done.
After watching certain explanations on YouTube, the whole story feels even bigger and more complex. I do have to stress that you should probably play the game for yourself before you seek the ideas of others. There were many details that I had missed playing the game, therefore it's very interesting to see the complexity afterwards. While watching these videos might spoil certain aspects, they still say the same thing and give you that heavy feeling.
Now this mystery of what the game truly means, it all adds to the story. It's open for your own interpretation, but in a good way, especially since you will not have any interpretation of it being an easy, light, casual game. It does, however, show you certain aspects of being in this dark place, your personal hell, while you are part of this war. You are in a war with yourself.
Now this mystery of what the game truly means, it all adds to the story. It's open for your own interpretation, but in a good way, especially since you will not have any interpretation of it being an easy, light, casual game. It does, however, show you certain aspects of being in this dark place, your personal hell, while you are part of this war. You are in a war with yourself.
That is also one of the reasons why I thought about PTSD. There are four types of PTSD, but of course, everyone might experience them a little differently.
1. Reliving the event (also called re-experiencing symptoms).
You may have bad memories or nightmares. You even may feel like you're going through the event again. This is called a flashback.
2. Avoiding situations that remind you of the event.
You may try to avoid situations or people that trigger memories of the traumatic event. You may even avoid talking or thinking about the event.
3. Having more negative beliefs and feelings.
The way you think about yourself and others may change because of the trauma. You may feel guilt or shame. Or, you may not be interested in activities you used to enjoy. You may feel that the world is dangerous and you can't trust anyone. You might be numb, or find it hard to feel happy.
4. Feeling keyed up (also called hyperarousal).
You may be jittery or always alert and on the lookout for danger. Or, you may have trouble concentrating or sleeping. You might suddenly get angry or irritable, startle easily, or act in unhealthy ways (like smoking, using drugs and alcohol, or driving recklessly.
Within the game itself, I feel that #4 and #1 pertain to your character, but it turns into #3 for you as a player at the end. While playing the game you are constantly looking out for your character, you don't want him to get hurt and you sometimes have to do things you might not like to keep him safe. Or even just for you to feel safer. Yet as soon as the ending comes near I felt like I couldn't trust the character anymore. I had begun to like and sympathise with someone in that situation, but now felt betrayed. I felt betrayed by the game and I couldn't trust what it had shown me before, what it wanted me to believe. There is one scene, just before the great finale kicks in, that made me feel a lot of guilt and shame for even pressing the button (even though I had no other choice). What I described above, might differ from others experience with the game. However, this is why I found this game so powerful. It made me stop and think about how it must be for people that are in these types of situations. However, this is not what made me play the game; I started it out of curiosity without really knowing what it was about. Therefore, this alone is a plus for me in this game, and I would recommend it to anyone.
This game is especially nice to look at how they put in so much detail, made everyone feel the same, yet everyone has a different explanation of what happened. That to me is very interesting.
Links:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spec_Ops:_The_Line
Wikipedia of Spec Ops: The Line.
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DN6YTm9DoQk
A story explanation.
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tULRgsc362o
Another story explanation.
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dzstxE_5Rc
Spec Ops: The Line... 5 years later.
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBUxNUnSphY
Interview with Walt Williams6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRyAfmVQOZU
Interview with Walt Williams - about the story.7. https://www.ptsd.va.gov/public/PTSD-overview/basics/what-is-ptsd.asp
PTSD - US. department of Veteran Affairs.
What we've done
It is very difficult to imagine what you would be going through once you hear that you'll die. This is one difficulty we had to overcome as a group to really get an idea of how to help these people with the process. Not only was this a mental challenge in the group - which is why we made sure to communicate any hardships we might have along the process - it was also a research challenge. We have done almost 3 months of research before we started iterating any ideas, just to get as much knowledge about this as we could.
I can definitely recommend doing a lot of research on the subject! It's what we have done and has proven to be making our project even better time and time again. We knew what we were talking about, which really helped our provotype designs.
This game is especially nice to look at how they put in so much detail, made everyone feel the same, yet everyone has a different explanation of what happened. That to me is very interesting.
Links:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spec_Ops:_The_Line
Wikipedia of Spec Ops: The Line.
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DN6YTm9DoQk
A story explanation.
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tULRgsc362o
Another story explanation.
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dzstxE_5Rc
Spec Ops: The Line... 5 years later.
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBUxNUnSphY
Interview with Walt Williams6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRyAfmVQOZU
Interview with Walt Williams - about the story.7. https://www.ptsd.va.gov/public/PTSD-overview/basics/what-is-ptsd.asp
PTSD - US. department of Veteran Affairs.
My own projects
I have had multiple projects given to me by the school in which I tried to put something more meaningful into the game and its requirements given by the school or their clients. Because this is a subject that has always interested me, I'll be giving some examples of work that I've done to also hopefully encourage people towards empathy.Project: "Levenseinde" (end of life)
The goal of the project
The client wanted a provotype (provoking prototype) that could help the terminally ill with the process and difficulties of dying. What we've done
It is very difficult to imagine what you would be going through once you hear that you'll die. This is one difficulty we had to overcome as a group to really get an idea of how to help these people with the process. Not only was this a mental challenge in the group - which is why we made sure to communicate any hardships we might have along the process - it was also a research challenge. We have done almost 3 months of research before we started iterating any ideas, just to get as much knowledge about this as we could.
I can definitely recommend doing a lot of research on the subject! It's what we have done and has proven to be making our project even better time and time again. We knew what we were talking about, which really helped our provotype designs.
Project: Paranoia
The goal of the project
We had to make a game with a switch. A trigger to switch from one feeling/world to the other. Open to our interpretation.
What we've done
I proposed to make this project about a certain fear, which we could then display in the switch what that could do with you. We ended up with paranoia and the fear of leaving your house. Every time you would walk to the front door, this switch would trigger visually and sound-wise. Our research wasn't as elaborate compared to the three months on "Levenseinde", however, we didn't plan on making a game that was very big, to begin with. The most important thing for us here was to get the feeling right, the switch. We wanted it to feel heavy, clamming and as if you hit a wall and just couldn't move anymore. We didn't have as much time on this project, but I think the feeling created with the visuals and the sounds went a long way.
What we've done
We made a game displaying certain symptoms of Psychosis. In the beginning, you would go on a rollercoaster ride and the psychosis would begin in the middle, as soon as the ride suddenly stops. We implemented features that; if you would go back to a room, certain objects had moved or completely changed visually to give you a confusing feeling. We wanted to include certain sound changes to confuse as well, which we just didn't do for time reasons. Since our objective was to not have any bugs, most of our time was spent on that. Our puzzles worked and there were changes in each room you re-entered, but it could have been done way better. I think with time, it would've been better. The overall idea was displayed in the game, the whole idea couldn't have been done in that amount of time.
Besides that, I think you can also take away from this that you don't need to cover a (for ex.) mental illness in its entirety. You can take parts and concentrate on really teaching that specific part instead of not delivering it well as a whole, which then takes away from the learning experience. Therefore, it's better to focus on one specific thing and executing it well than to have too much on your plate and fail as a whole.
You don't have to take the player by the hand, it's okay to have mystery, it's okay to have questions. It's all about giving the player a certain feeling, a certain realization, to get the point across. You do not have to explain this point. The beauty of these games is that you express it without having to use so many words because the words can only do so much for empathy.
We had to make a game with a switch. A trigger to switch from one feeling/world to the other. Open to our interpretation.
What we've done
I proposed to make this project about a certain fear, which we could then display in the switch what that could do with you. We ended up with paranoia and the fear of leaving your house. Every time you would walk to the front door, this switch would trigger visually and sound-wise. Our research wasn't as elaborate compared to the three months on "Levenseinde", however, we didn't plan on making a game that was very big, to begin with. The most important thing for us here was to get the feeling right, the switch. We wanted it to feel heavy, clamming and as if you hit a wall and just couldn't move anymore. We didn't have as much time on this project, but I think the feeling created with the visuals and the sounds went a long way.
Project: Amazeing Journey
The goal of the project
We had to make a game in which we were free to do whatever we wanted, as long as there were no bugs.
We made a game displaying certain symptoms of Psychosis. In the beginning, you would go on a rollercoaster ride and the psychosis would begin in the middle, as soon as the ride suddenly stops. We implemented features that; if you would go back to a room, certain objects had moved or completely changed visually to give you a confusing feeling. We wanted to include certain sound changes to confuse as well, which we just didn't do for time reasons. Since our objective was to not have any bugs, most of our time was spent on that. Our puzzles worked and there were changes in each room you re-entered, but it could have been done way better. I think with time, it would've been better. The overall idea was displayed in the game, the whole idea couldn't have been done in that amount of time.
The key to empathy
As is seen in the two examples I gave you of games as well as my own examples of projects I've done, research is key. The more you know about the subject, the better you could simulate what you want to teach them about the subject (like a mental illness). Words only go so far, however, when you go back to the work you've done to those that have experienced it, you will get better results. Much like Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice and my project Levenseinde.This will definitely help you get a better result of what you want to achieve.Besides that, I think you can also take away from this that you don't need to cover a (for ex.) mental illness in its entirety. You can take parts and concentrate on really teaching that specific part instead of not delivering it well as a whole, which then takes away from the learning experience. Therefore, it's better to focus on one specific thing and executing it well than to have too much on your plate and fail as a whole.
You don't have to take the player by the hand, it's okay to have mystery, it's okay to have questions. It's all about giving the player a certain feeling, a certain realization, to get the point across. You do not have to explain this point. The beauty of these games is that you express it without having to use so many words because the words can only do so much for empathy.
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