Video games: Can they make people more empathetic in real life?

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Winifred Harrington
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Video games: Can they make people more empathetic in real life? By Christian Science Monitor, adapted by Newsela staff on 09.27.

1 Video games: Can they make people more empathetic in real life? By Christian Science Monitor, adapted by Newsela staff on Word Count 934 Level 1150L Students experience virtual reality systems at Lockhead Martin's Young Minds at Work Day. Photo by: Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post via Getty Images Dys4ia is not your typical video game. The challenges are not extraordinary, and there are no bosses to defeat. Also unlike most games, Dys4ia cannot really be won. That is because Dys4ia is more than a game. Instead, it shows the creator's life as a transgender woman going through hormone replacement therapy. A transgender person has a gender identity that differs from the sex they were assigned at birth. This disconnect between appearance and identity can cause the person to feel distressed, a reaction which is sometimes called "dysphoria." Sometimes, a transgender person will take hormones to help them look more like the gender they identify as. Since its release in 2012, Dys4ia has received praise not just for its design, but for how it makes players feel. Through deeply personal stories, it appeared to communicate the unseen struggles of the transgender community. It came to be known as an empathy game, because it allowed players to walk a mile in the shoes of a transgender woman. This was the promise that so many hung on Dys4ia and other games like it. This article is available at 5 reading levels at 1

2 Many creators of so-called empathy games, however, have grown to dislike the term. Anna Anthropy, creator of Dys4ia, was shocked to find that classrooms and conferences were using her game to teach people what it s like to be a trans woman. For one thing, she never intended for Dys4ia to be representative of any collective trans experience. Rather, it showed her own individual experience. She also believed the game was unlikely to generate the same level of mutual understanding that comes from actually interacting with people. "A First Step Toward Understanding" For many, the idea of teaching empathy through video games holds a certain appeal. There is also a historical basis for showing other perspectives through play and storytelling. Humans learn empathy through interaction and imitation and play, Karl Hohn says. He is a member of the New York-based art and indie game collective Babycastles. That s how children learn empathy." Games like Dys4ia can offer a first step toward understanding the experiences of communities that are marginalized, or have less power. According to Anthropy, the work of developing true empathy, however, needs to be ongoing and should include both active engagement with people from those communities and a certain amount of self-reflection. The label empathy game gives players an implied permission to excuse themselves from doing the ongoing, conscious work of addressing their privilege, Anthropy says. Once players believe they have sufficiently empathized with the subject of the game, they leave the experience behind. Anthropy explained that the games do not ask the audience to understand the role they play in creating suffering. The game, then, is a pat on the back rather than useful action. The term empathy game, by design, treats empathy as a goal to be achieved. Empathy, however, is a process of ongoing education and self-reflection, Hohn suggests, not just a state of being. I think, at best, these games could open the door for you to start the self-examination and emotional labor that is required to achieve empathy, he adds. Critics Wonder Who Benefits In recent years, virtual reality has emerged as the latest vehicle for empathy-driven storytelling. When director Chris Milk brought his Clouds Over Sidra to the United Nations in 2015, the virtual reality (VR) documentary, which follows a young Syrian girl in a refugee camp, opened to praise. The following year, UNESCO published a report claiming that digital games could support peace education and conflict resolution. Critics, however, question the impact of such machines as well as who actually benefits from them. This article is available at 5 reading levels at 2

3 Robert Yang, a game developer and assistant professor at New York University s Game Center, is skeptical that the refugee simulators popularized by Milk can express profound suffering and difficult political situations in just five minutes. Moreover, Yang argues that VR films simply cannot replace the most powerful type of empathy, the kind you get from talking face-to-face with a real person. Storytellers Can Learn From Literature That is not to say that VR cannot be a home to better empathy. Being subtle, Hohn says, is one lesson that interactive storytellers could learn from novels and plays. You need to sort of bake the empathy in without putting it right on the front, Hohn says. Literature and theater do this by highlighting the struggles of marginalized groups by showing how complex and different the characters are, rather than taking an instructional tone. He explained that the most successful games do not have an educational goal in mind, but keep the goal secondary through gameplay, narration and world building. Complexity Is Key A better empathy machine might also support complexity. Social and political realities are often messy and right and wrong is not always clear. By asking players to navigate this gray world, interactive storytellers may be able to create a more lasting empathy. For example, Vassiliki Khonsari was the executive producer of a game that followed a young photographer living in Iran while the country was having a revolution. She said empathy is at the core of the experience. I think if we did have an overarching message, the message was to complicate history, Khonsari says. The message was to show how good people end up doing bad things, and how bad people end up doing possibly good things." Interactive art can communicate powerful messages, Khonsari says, as long as they ask us to reflect on our values, morals and interactions with the world. What s unique about video games is [what] they ask of you, Khonsari remarks. You have to be an active participant." This article is available at 5 reading levels at 3

4 Quiz 1 Which person quoted in the article would be MOST likely to agree that video games can help players understand the difficult decisions that have shaped history? Anna Anthropy Karl Hohn Robert Yang Vassiliki Khonsari 2 Which of the following BEST represents Anna Anthropy's approach toward the label "empathy games"? She disapproves of the label because it suggests that players do not have to examine their role in causing suffering for others. She approves of the label because it suggests that players will learn more about others' perspectives while addressing their privilege. She disapproves of the label because it suggests that the games are more instructional in nature and therefore will discourage players. She approves of the label because it suggests that the games provide more educational value than typical video games. 3 Read the selection from the introduction [paragraphs 1-4]. Since its release in 2012, Dys4ia has received praise not just for its design, but for how it makes players feel. Through deeply personal stories, it appeared to communicate the unseen struggles of the transgender community. It came to be known as an empathy game, because it allowed players to walk a mile in the shoes of a transgender woman. The author uses the phrase "walk a mile in the shoes" to mean: intentionally experience something new communicate with different groups spend time with another person understand a different perspective This article is available at 5 reading levels at 4

5 4 Read the paragraph from the section "Critics Wonder Who Benefits." Robert Yang, a game developer and assistant professor at New York University s Game Center, is skeptical that the refugee simulators popularized by Milk can express profound suffering and difficult political situations in just five minutes. How does using the word "skeptical" affect the tone of this paragraph? It conveys indecisiveness about the length of the game. It conveys reluctance to risk in developing the game. It conveys uncertainty about the effectiveness of the game. It conveys disbelief about the success of the game. This article is available at 5 reading levels at 5

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Black Panther Redefines The World Of Superheroes. Breaking New Ground In Film. The Story Of The Black Panther Opinion: "Black Panther" gives me a personal reason to cheer for a new superhero By Brandon T. Harden, Philadelphia Inquirer, adapted by Newsela staff on 02.12.18 Word Count 887 Level 1040L Chadwick Boseman