Digital Narrative Games Exploration

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• Game Name: Empathy Toy
  1. Like:
     1. Gave a sense of how one navigates an issue with very few inputs.
  2. Dislike:
     1. The mechanism of the game was a bit undermining the outcome feelings.
  3. Learned:
     1. How it feels when you are short of access to a certain sense or information, and how one feels startled in this kind of situation.
  4. May be improved:
     1. The mechanism can have clearer rules so the players can feel interactive with the game.
     2. The guide can give players hints about specific things or elements; one hint about the large shapes and the other about the smaller ones

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• Game Name: Domestic abuse (Link)
  1. Like:
     1. Has real Local statistics. Giving you a sense of the issue’s weight.
  2. Dislike:
     1. The lack of personal perspective: There is no option to choose your gender: Male or Female.
        1. The game considers domestic abuse in Egypt to happen only to women and does not consider the male perspective, although the rules provide more protection to women than men. By enforcing these laws, men are usually blackmailed. They are forbidden from their children and more.
     2. Some cases are not realistic:
        1. Based on firsthand observation and involvement in some cases, some cases are not shown realistically; they will give a case and disregard a lot of other parameters like financial state, the country’s development status, the functionality of the systems, etc.
        2. For example, a woman might accept domestic abuse because otherwise she won’t be able to live because of her family.
        3. Another case may apply for work, but not all work environments are good; because of her own security, she may be harassed or looked down on because of her marital status.
     3. Learned:
        1. How much domestic violence is hidden in Egypt. (Because of the statistics provided, not because of the choices).
     4. May be improved:
        1. Can add more perspectives, like choosing the gender.
        2. May add solutions that are available for the partner being abused in the choices as a way to spread awareness and provide realistic solutions, so the game is not just about a static situation.
        3. May add more to the flow of scenes, as it felt a bit disconnected.

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• Game Name: Fake it to make it (Link)
  1. Like:
     1. Immersive, like the dedicated games of Sims and so on, gives you options so you can make decisions, not just follow a straight-line course of choices and then get the result.
     2. Show goals and track them.
  2. Dislike:
     1. Do not have the option to fast-forward the time; it takes a lot of time for its purpose.
  3. Learned:
     1. People interact with drama more than with the credibility of the news.
  4. May be improved:
     1. Add the ability to move faster in the game to reach the goal, or maybe smaller objectives to keep the player interactive with the game.