EMBRACING EMPATHY VIA ENGAGING STORYTELLING GAMES

Abstract

Games have evolved from being just a form of entertainment and how now become a medium of many uses, where one of its uses is to evoke lessons and emotions. Empathy is something that the game Tobeyou.sg has been trying to evoke among its players. There have been previous studies on how different types of games and serious games have been used in to teach topics such as wargaming, strategy, how to handle pandemics and even national narratives such as total defence. However, with a topic as sensitive as race and culture especially in the context of Singapore, any previous attempt of this would have been considered ’taboo’. By analysing tobeyou.sg through two different methodologies addressing the design of the game and the players' reactions to it, this thesis aims to explore whether there it is possible to use a game to evoke empathy given the complexities of the term itself. By focusing on the game and what makes it appealing to players, along with first-hand reactions to the game from Unsurprisingly, games do affect players emotionally and can be used as a medium in many different situations. However, findings indicate that its effectiveness is highly dependent on the quality of the story that is put out and the audience that they are appealing to.