Empathy in game design - Exploring a human-centric approach in designing engaging video game experiences
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37134/jictie.vol9.2.9.2022Keywords:
emotions, narrative, affective empathy, immersive gamesAbstract
The link between engagement and player emotions has been extensively explored by researchers in recent years. Empathy, which is the innate ability to accurately perceive another person’s current feelings and meanings can be broadly categorized into two main human-centric design approaches - cognitive empathy and affective empathy. Certain forms of media especially time-based media have been proven to better exploit viewers’ empathy and provide a more engaging experience when a human-centric design approach is applied. The aim of this research paper is to explore if a human-centric design approach can provide the same level if not more immersive engagement when designing video game experiences. The initial research into a human-centric design approach in video games will be obtained through an exploratory research design involving six tertiary-level students in the field of game design between the ages of 20 to 24 over a period of two weeks. The exploratory research encompassing of a semi-structured interview process with eight key questions relating to the respondent’s experience with empathy in games determined the advantages of planning and designing a game using a human-centric game design approach. The research determined that human-centric game design focusing on affective empathy provides a high possibility of a more engaging game experience that is strengthened by in-game narrative elements resulting in increased time spent in-game. This can be attributed to two main factors – firstly, a stronger player connection through direct empathy to their virtual avatars or in-game characters, regardless of the player’s moral standings and principles. Secondly, an immersive narrative structure produces a deeper player attachment toward game characters and game worlds.
Downloads
References
Bachen, C. M., Hernández-Ramos, P., Raphael, C., & Waldron, A. (2016). How do presence, flow, and character identification affect players’ empathy and interest in learning from a serious computer game? Computers in Human Behavior, 64, 77-87. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.06.043
Balakrishnan, J., & Griffiths, M. D. (2019). Perceived addictiveness of smartphone games: A content analysis of game reviews by players. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 17(4), 922-934. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11469-018-9897-5
Bayrak, A. T. (2020). Compassionate game design: a holistic perspective for a player-centric game design paradigm for games4health. International Journal on Advances in Intelligent Systems, 13(1), 1-18.
Burgess, J., & Jones, C. (2020). The female video game player-character persona and emotional attachment. Persona Studies, 6(2), 7-21.
Chua, D., Kainama, N., Adji, M. N., & Feranita, F. (2019). Consumer preference on paid game microtransaction. Journal of Research in Marketing, 10(3), 832-842.
Coanda, I., & Aupers, S. (2021). Post-human encounters: Humanising the technological Other in videogames. New Media & Society, 23(5), 1236-1256. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444820912388
Colby, R., & Colby, R. S. (2019). Game design documentation: Four perspectives from independent game studios. Communication Design Quarterly Review, 7(3), 5-15. https://doi.org/10.1145/3321388.3321389
Collins, F. M. (2014). The relationship between social media and empathy.
Coulson, M., Barnett, J., Ferguson, C. J., & Gould, R. L. (2012). Real feelings for virtual people: Emotional attachments and interpersonal attraction in video games. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 1(3), 176. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0028192
Depow, G. J., Francis, Z., & Inzlicht, M. (2021). The experience of empathy in everyday life. Psychological Science, 32(8), 1198-1213. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797621995202
Digital (2022). April Global Statshot Report. Hootsuite. Retrieved 6 June 2022, from https://datareportal.com/global-digital-overview
Edwards, A. D., & Shafer, D. M. (2022). When lamps have feelings: Empathy and anthropomorphism toward inanimate objects in animated films. Projections, 16(2), 27-52.
Gardner, A. (2022). People Who Love Animals More Than People: Psychology of Empathy. Better Help. Retrieved 1 November 2022 from https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/love/people-who-love-animals-more-than-people-psychology-of-empathy/
Grodal, T., & Kramer, M. (2010). Empathy, film, and the brain. Recherches sémiotiques/Semiotic Inquiry, 30(1-2-3), 19-35. https://doi.org/10.7202/1025921ar
Guo, Y. (2022). Designing Game Narrative to Evoke Players’ Empathy.
Hamari, J., & Tuunanen, J. (2014). Player types: A meta-synthesis. Transactions of the Digital Games Research Association, 1(2). http://dx.doi.org/10.26503/todigra.v1i2.13
Harth, J. (2017). Empathy with non-player characters? An empirical approach to the foundations of human/non-human relationships. Journal for Virtual Worlds Research, 10(2). http://dx.doi.org/10.4101/jvwr.v10i2.7272
Howard, K. T. (2019). Free-to-play or pay-to-win? Casual, hardcore, and hearthstone. Transactions of the Digital Games Research Association, 4(3). https://doi.org/10.26503/todigra.v4i3.103
Ike, T. C., Hoe, T. W., Kim, J. L. E., & Y’ng, N. Y. (2021). Exploring user experience from an emotional context when designing immersive games for education. Journal of ICT in Education, 8(1), 10-25. https://doi.org/10.37134/jictie.vol8.1.2.2021
Jerrett, A., Howell, P., & Dansey, N. (2021). Developing an empathy spectrum for games. Games and Culture, 16(6), 635-659.
Johnson, D., Gardner, J., & Sweetser, P. (2016). Motivations for videogame play: Predictors of time spent playing. Computers in Human Behavior, 63, 805-812. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.06.028
Johnson, D., Zhao, X., White, K. M., & Wickramasinghe, V. (2021). Need satisfaction, passion, empathy and helping behaviour in videogame play. Computers in Human Behavior, 122, 106817.
Kapalo, K. A., Dewar, A. R., Rupp, M. A., & Szalma, J. L. (2015, September). Individual differences in video gaming: Defining hardcore video gamers. In Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting (Vol. 59, No. 1, pp. 878-881). Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications.
Kim, H. J., Oh, S. Y., Joo, J. H., Choi, D. W., & Park, E. C. (2019). The relationship between sleep duration and perceived stress: findings from the 2017 Community Health Survey in Korea. International journal of environmental research and public health, 16(17), 3208. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16173208
Knoll, T. (2012). Investigating Gamer Strategies: How Casual and Hardcore Players Overcome Breakdowns. Unpublished master‟ s thesis, University College London, London, UK.
Koetsier, J. (2020). Casual Games: ‘Unprecedented Growth Curve In An Already Massive Industry’. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/2020/06/10/hyper-growth-for-hyper-casual-mobile-games-2x-installs-72-more-sessions/?sh=1e187c34843b
Krabbe, E. (2021). The Man Who Invented Majora's Mask Reflects on 30 Years at Nintendo - From learning to use a keyboard to creating some of Nintendo's most iconic characters. IGN Southeast Asia. https://sea.ign.com/feature/170915/the-man-who-invented-majoras-mask-reflects-on-30-years-at-nintendo
Lankoski, P. (2007). Goals, affects, and empathy in games. Philosophy of computer games, 1-10.
Lankoski, P. (2011). Player character engagement in computer games. Games and Culture, 6(4), 291-311. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1555412010391088
Lewis, M. L., Weber, R., & Bowman, N. D. (2008). “They may be pixels, but they're MY pixels:” Developing a metric of character attachment in role-playing video games. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 11(4), 515-518. http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/cpb.2007.0137
Mäyrä, F., & Ermi, L. (2011). Fundamental components of the gameplay experience. Digarec Series, (6), 88-115.
Mears, B., & Zhu, J (2017). Motherhood: Designing Silent Player Characters for Storytelling.
Moloco (2021). How Big is the Hyper Casual Games Market? Moloco. https://www.moloco.com/en/blog/hyper-casual-games-market-size
Pergerson, C. (2021). How This War of Mine Creates Empathy for Virtual Characters. https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/art108/24/
Przybylski, A. K., Rigby, C. S., & Ryan, R. M. (2010). A motivational model of video game engagement. Review of General Psychology, 14(2), 154-166. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019440
Scriven, P. (2022). “You’re the lucky one, Dani”: NPC Empathy and Meaningful Play in Farcry 6. https://digraa.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/DiGRAA_2022_paper_9.pdf
Schrier, K., & Farber, M. (2021). A systematic literature review of ‘empathy’ and ‘games.’ Journal of Gaming & Virtual Worlds, 13(2), 195–214. https://doi.org/10.1386/jgvw_00036_1
Statista (2022). Number of smartphone subscriptions worldwide from 2016 to 2027. https://www.statista.com/statistics/330695/number-of-smartphone-users-worldwide/
Tan, C. I. (2019). Linking the Elements of Learning, Assessment, and Play Experience in a Validation Framework. In Design, Motivation, and Frameworks in Game-Based Learning (pp. 93-122). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-6026-5.ch004
Tobón, D. J. (2019). Empathy and sympathy: two contemporary models of character engagement. In The Palgrave handbook of the philosophy of film and motion pictures (pp. 865-891). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Turkay, S., & Kinzer, C. K. (2015). The effects of avatar-based customization on player identification. In Gamification: Concepts, methodologies, tools, and applications (pp. 247-272). IGI Global. http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-8200-9.ch012
van Zonneveld, L., Platje, E., de Sonneville, L., Van Goozen, S., & Swaab, H. (2017). Affective empathy, cognitive empathy and social attention in children at high risk of criminal behaviour. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 58(8), 913-921. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.12724
Watkins, R., & Molesworth, M. (2012). Attachment to digital virtual possessions in videogames. In Research in Consumer Behavior. Emerald Group Publishing Limited. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/S0885-2111(2012)0000014012
Wise, J. (2022). How Much Is the Gaming Industry Worth in 2022? Revenue & Stats. https://earthweb.com/how-much-is-the-gaming-industry-worth/#:~:text=7.1)%20Related%20ReadingKey%20Gaming%20Industry%20Statistics %202022,of%2072.2%20billion%20US%20dollars.
Witkowski, W. (2020). Videogames are a bigger industry than movies and North American sports combined, thanks to the pandemic. Retrieved 3 June 2022, from https://www.marketwatch.com/story/videogames-are-a-bigger-industry-than-sports-and-movies-combined-thanks-to-the-pandemic-11608654990.
Yen, M. T. H. (2022). The effect of video games on moral decision making: Empathy as a moderator. Jurnal Psikologi Malaysia, 35(3), 141-153.
Zagal, J. P., & Mateas, M. (2010). Time in video games: A survey and analysis. Simulation & Gaming, 41(6), 844-868. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1046878110375594
Ziemke, T. (2005). Empathy with computer game characters: A cognitive neuroscience perspective. In Proceedings of the Joint Symposium on Virtual Social Agents (pp. 73-79). University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, UK
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Tan Xinyi, Tan Chin Ike
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.