In these games and activities, I found other ways of understanding people, communication, and real-life situations. The games were all different subjects, but they all made me think about what I do and what choices I make that might impact others. There were some games that were more emotional and others that were more communication and decision making focused. The Empathy Toy was a great reminder that it is hard to understand the person if you don’t have a bit of their perspective.
Empathy Toy
The Empathy Toy was an activity we covered in class that really stuck with me out of all the other activities we did. The game we played was one where two people were blindfolded and were given wooden toys to put together in such a way that they could not see each other. I was one of the people blindfolded and the other members of the team needed to show me how and tell me what to do. It was an easy activity at first, but it got harder because we could not see the pieces or make out what the other person was trying to tell.
I enjoyed the activity because I learned the need for communication and patience. Even when someone is trying to help, their explanation might not make sense to the other person. This is an issue in real life when there are conflicting viewpoints. There were times when it was frustrating, but that was memorable. The Empathy Toy is about communicating, collaborating and understanding another’s perspective.
Depression Quest was different because it allowed me to experience the daily life of someone dealing with depression. The game didn’t just tell me what depression was, it was a game that forced me to make decisions regarding relationships, work, treatment, and life in general.
What I enjoyed about the game was that the decision making was not always easy. Depression was a factor in some of the options, revealing mental health’s impact on an individual’s decision-making. I also enjoyed seeing the game’s message that depression isn’t always apparent to others. Someone may seem perfectly healthy on the outside but be very sick on the inside.
I didn’t like that the game was largely a read and choose type of game. I believe this also made the experience more serious though. I learned that mental health can impact many aspects of a person’s life and that there is more to a person than what you see.
The Special Olympics was about experiencing what it’s like to be a mother of a child with Down syndrome and having to make decisions about the child’s involvement and life. The game made me think of how parents might need to make hard decisions for their children, as well as for their education, friendship, family and future.
I liked the fact that the game didn’t make every choice seem like a no-brainer. In some cases it was necessary to consider what is really appropriate for the child. I also enjoyed that the game was tied to actual events related to Special Olympics.
What could be improved is that the game could include more situations and more information about the Special Olympics itself. This would make it more detailed and would help players know what it is. I really learned more about the ways families address situations that others may not grasp right away.
Newsroom Sensation! focused on the idea of sensationalism in the media. I played a game in which I was in charge of a newspaper, and had to decide what articles and headlines to include. The decisions impacted two concepts: newspaper popularity and newspaper integrity.
What I liked about this game was that the decisions had consequences. Choosing a more sensational headline could increase popularity but decrease the newspaper’s integrity. This led me to consider the dilemma facing newspapers and media businesses in terms of whether to capture attention or remain accurate.
I enjoyed the fact that this issue was presented to me as a choice rather than merely being explained to me. I was reminded of the importance of the way information is presented and how it can affect people’s beliefs based on the headline. I believe that there should be more scenarios and better depictions of the public’s response to each choice.
Orphans and Society put me in the shoes of an orphan and demonstrated various scenarios related to school, visitors, privacy and relationships. For instance, personal questions were asked by visitors, and that got me thinking about the discomfort that can be felt when people do not respect an individual’s privacy.
I enjoyed the game, because it was not just extreme situations, but situations that can occur in daily life. It also demonstrated how simple choices can have an impact on others’ relationships. In another circumstance, it was with a friend that they shared and got support, and this just proves that sometimes sharing personal information with another person can have a positive effect.
I think it could be improved by adding more scenarios and giving the player more choices. If there were more situations, the story would be more complete and the player would have a better understanding of the character’s life.
Comparing the Games:
I can see that the most common thing in all five experiences was that I did look at things in a different light than I did before. Empathy Toy helped me learn to communicate and understand what another was experiencing that I couldn’t see. I found out what depression is like to experience through Depression Quest. Special Olympics demonstrated the difficulties families encounter raising a child with a disability. Newsroom Sensation! made me think about the conflict between popularity and honesty in the media, while Orphans and Society focused on privacy, relationships, and the challenges faced by orphans.
The primary difference in the games was the method of creating empathy. The Empathy Toy was a physical experience that I had to rely on others for. I did think about characters and decisions with the digital games, though. I believe that is why the Empathy Toy was the most memorable for me. I wasn’t just reading it or clicking through, I really felt the struggle of having to communicate and not be able to see.
If I could make up my own game, I would mix ideas together from some of these games I played. I would make a game that would be the experience of a life where the player is in a hard situation, but with realistic consequences. I would also like to present more than one side to a question instead of making one side look good and one side look bad. The objective would be to make the player understand the character rather than just tell them what the character is experiencing.
These games can assist others in gaining insight into the views, opinions, and beliefs of others, help them to communicate more effectively, and consider issues that they may not encounter in their own lives.
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