Game Reflections: (4 games: one physical in class, other 3 games)

Game 1: The empathy toy we played in class

This was actually my favorite game that we’ve done in class so far because it really teaches us empathy, which is to feel others and their sufferings. I was one of the people guiding the blindfolded in class. It was very tough to explain to the blindfolded how to shape the toy correctly, just as if you’re guiding someone blind on their way somewhere, but it taught me the purest feeling ever, because you’re helping someone figure out their way when they can’t on their own like you can, and that’s the purpose of life, to all feel each other, imagine if we were in their situation, and so we can all survive this world safely together.

How I felt: Throughout the game, as the one guiding, I felt at first that it was tough. While I was trying to describe and guide the blindfolded, he couldn’t figure out what he wanted at first, and I lost my belief that he’d ever do it. But by trying and trying, trusting the process, trusting the blindfolded and being a good listener while he kept asking more questions that I could answer so he could make it, we did it in the end, which is also another lesson, that we have to never give up and trust the process!

What I liked about this game: I liked how we heard each other, felt each other, trusted each other and survived together.

What I didn’t like: I didn’t like that it was just a toy in the end. I think what I’d like to improve is that the game could have included something more meaningful or purposeful that a really blind person could be happy to have achieved, maybe something similar to what a blind person finds hard to do in real life but would give him the motivation, trust and belief that he can do anything no matter how hard it is. But in the end, it’s not about the toy, it’s still about the achievement itself, with trusting, feeling and helping each other, so I am convinced now and I think it’s actually a perfect game. Even the rotation we did, so that each one of us could feel others not just by thought but also by action, whether we were the guiding one or the blindfolded one, was also really smart!

Game 2: When Someone You Love Is Depressed Digital Narrative Game Phase 5: Final Draft – Alia Ghoneim’s Blog 

I extremely liked this game because I really love everything that has to do with mental health. I believe mental health is what matters most in this world: no matter how wealthy, successful, or impactful you are, if you’re not positive or don’t have good mental health, it’s as if you’re not living.

I didn’t just learn empathy from the game, especially if it’s someone close that you know and love who is depressed or having bad mental health, but I also learned that we all, literally all, must have faced some bad days or even many throughout our lives, yet we still have to think that we also had good days and will still hopefully have more! So always think positively too! What I also learned is that I hope people understand and learn from this game to not keep making excuses for someone depressed or even just sad. Instead, try to be a good person, actually feel what they’re feeling and help them solve their problem or at least help them change their mood. So always be a good person and always be a good source of motivation and happiness for yourself and others!

I honestly liked many things about the game. The title itself, “Someone You Love Is Depressed,” is meaningful and has empathy in it. You already feel sadness, as a sensitive or an empathetic person, just by reading it, and it makes you curious about the story or problem without judging or predicting why they might be sad. It later made me think more that when we hear that, we always just have to feel others’ situations, help, and try to solve the problem.

I also liked how the Arabic words were used in the slide of the excuses wrong people make when they find someone depressed or having bad mental health, unfortunately instead of feeling them, helping them solve their problem, and understanding that it’s a temporary problem that will hopefully be solved, so they can also be motivated.

I also liked how she used Egyptian Arabic names as well to relate to our real-life situations.

What I didn’t like about the game, maybe, is that the slides were honestly too long. I would’ve made them shorter but still included all the same important content and main message.

Maybe as an improvement, I’d make the game shorter, with shorter slides, so it can be more fun and engaging and attract more students to play the game and understand it well. It was a mix of fun and academic, so I wouldn’t change its style. I really liked it!

Game 3: Sleep-Deprived Mom Game  Sleep-deprived mom game

I really loved this game done by Dr. Maha Bali. I personally love mothers and children so much and the bond between them, like my mother’s bond with me and my brother, and when I hopefully become a mother with my children. I always like learning about good upbringing or teaching our children well and ways of doing that, so this game taught me a lot about how to think wisely and choose the right choices that are beneficial and best for parents and children, not just one of them. It taught us that not everything a child could ever want has to be done on the spot, and that following rules is also an important part of good upbringing. Having empathy for each other, whether it’s mom to child, child to mom, or mom to dad and the opposite, is extremely important in all ways, especially when it comes to such a thing as sleeping. Sleeping is important in all ways for a parent and a child, and it also leads to positive, good mental health. I learned that from this game and it really made me more alert to it.

What I liked most about the game is that it gives you good, reasonable, wise feedback after each choice you make, truly teaching you how to be a good parent and how to lead and choose wisely in all situations and things for yourself, your child, your loved ones and all your surroundings.

There’s nothing I did not like about the game, honestly, it was great. Maybe I would just add a list at the end of lessons learnt or parent advice to children and the opposite, and even advice for the parents with each other for their marriage life and children, for a successful, healthy relationship, good upbringing and family. I think that would make it more interesting. Maybe I didn’t like that there weren’t any visuals; maybe I would add visuals, make it more colorful, maybe some imaginative visuals or scenes of the actual situations happening, maybe fun, quiet background music that would suit sleep and night. But I felt really happy and excited to, inshallah, do that with my children in the future, as my mom and dad did with me and my brother, and it gave me appreciation for all their sacrifices and empathy towards us!

Game 4: Skills Practice: A Home Visit  Branching Scenario | H5P 

I really really loved this game. It’s unique with all its ideas, with all its unexpected visuals, responses, and questions, and even the idea itself of a visitor going to someone dealing with depression at home and acting as a therapist, feeling what they’re feeling and helping them get better and solve their problems.

It made me feel that some days when we’re sad or having a bad day or days, there are still more people suffering and sad about much harder things than we are, so we should feel for others, appreciate what we have, and try to help others get back to being happy and motivated, and also take care of our own mental health as well as theirs. I also greatly learned from the game to think wisely before speaking or asking anything, especially to someone depressed, ill or dealing with any bad situation in their life, mentally or physically. It improved how I deal with all situations of sadness or any critical situation that we or someone else can be facing, to deal with things maturely and wisely and always break things down into steps to solve the problem.

What I liked most about the game was the visuals, the unpredictable scenarios, the questions and answers, the acting, the setting, the directing, the cameraman, the unexpected scenes, and the man who appeared for a second in the scene but had a very great message and impact. It was as if it was a film you are controlling or trying to make with the right path and right choices! It was very fun and I really enjoyed it. It’s actually one of my favorite games ever, I love the way it was created, so smart.

I did not find anything I didn’t like about the game. Maybe I would just add an ending to the game with advice and music or something light that would leave the viewer happy, with a message to really keep as a memory that he learned something from it, as the game closed suddenly, or just ended normally after the last correct answer. So maybe that is what I would want to change or improve, but all the rest was good.

Comparing Games:

As we can see, I also tried my best to choose all the games wisely, to be related to each other in some way and to the game that I’d also want to create. All the games are related to empathy, trusting the process, thinking wisely, responsibility and mental health, which are all things I deeply, deeply admire and find to be among the most precious things in our world. The physical empathy toy we played in class truly taught us empathy, with us physically dealing with such a big problem as being blind, and guiding and trusting the process. Game two, When Someone You Love Is Depressed, also taught us empathy and not judging without knowing the full picture, as we also learned in class before and trusting the process. Game three, the Sleep-Deprived Mom game, taught us how to be good mothers, how to deal with critical situations with our children, and how to choose and think wisely. Game four, Skills Practice: A Home Visit, also taught us how to think wisely, think before we speak, understand how to deal with critical situations well, and find our mental health important as well. All taught us also to never give up, which is extremely crucial to always remember and take into consideration and to trust everything in our life and think positively, not just wisely! None of the games had a very professional style but they were all academic and meaningful, taught so many lessons like the ones we took in our course as mentioned and at the same time they were fun and engaging. The sleep deprived mom game did not have any visuals or music while the other two new games used many visuals and music which made them more engaging, but all even the physical game we played, were still engaging in their own way. All were in some sort of way personal or had a personal connection which I find also useful or well related!

Only Game 4 had a very professional style, while the others were simpler, but they were all academic and meaningful, and they taught many lessons like the ones we took in our course as mentioned, while at the same time being fun and engaging. The Sleep-Deprived Mom game did not have any visuals or music, while the other two new games used many visuals, which made them more engaging, but all of them, even the physical game we played, were still engaging in their own way. The physical game made us feel empathy through action, as we were really guiding and being guided, while the digital games made us feel it through the choices we made, and I find both ways really beautiful and useful! All were, in some way, personal or had a personal connection, which I also find useful and well related! 

My Own Game: Mental Health Matters

This leads to the game I would want to create and would actually be super excited to do: a very creative, appealing, colorful game full of visuals and music about mental health. Mental health for me, and supposed to be for everyone, is one of the main key things in life. My game would not be physical but online, using a game-maker app I used to use when I was younger. I can’t remember its name, but I can also use Canva. My game would include a lifelong, three-stage life scenario or structure of a child, an adult and an old person, all the same person dealing with different things in life, difficulties, some hard times and some good times: how his childhood was, his parents and their way of dealing with and teaching him, him as an adult, still as a son, maybe now a husband or wife, maybe also a parent, and later as an old man, still a son, husband, parent and perhaps a grandparent too. It would include several questions in every stage, and these questions would appear at the end of each of the three stages of his life, after different scenarios happen in that stage, with options or questions about what he would have wished to happen in this stage: improve, teach, advise, fix and so on, all leading to the main message that the solution to every single problem is having good mental health, a good happy mindset, calming down and thinking positively! And also as the saying in Islam goes, “tafalo belkhair tagidooh,” which means be optimistic and you’ll find good in life, so I also always try my best to be motivated and stay calm, so smile! In conclusion, from what I learned in the four games I mentioned, relating it to my game, my game would give wise feedback after each choice, like the Sleep-Deprived Mom game did, so the player really understands why a choice is good or not, and I would make it feel like a film-like structure that you are controlling, like Skills Practice: A Home Visit, and end it with a happy message and advice so the player leaves with a lesson to remember in my own creative unique way!