Developing an Empathy Spectrum for Games. Issue 6 (September 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Jerrett, Adam; Howell, Peter; Dansey, Neil
• Is Part Of: Games and culture. Volume 16:Issue 6(2021)
• Page Start: 635
• Page End: 659
• Publication Date: 2021-09
• Subjects: games -- sustainability -- empathy games -- empathy -- reflection; Games -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Video games -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Computer games -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Interactive multimedia -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; 303.4834
• DOI: 10.1177/1555412020954019
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1555-4120

Abstract

Games often encourage players to feel empathy for characters or scenarios by design. However, the term 'empathy' is often misunderstood and used in a variety of contexts as a substitute for feelings of sympathy, pity and compassion. This article defines a distinction between these similar terms and uses their definitions to describe how players emotionally engage with a game. This helps define an empathy spectrum, ranging from pity to compassion, that can be used to subjectively classify different games. To show the spectrum in use, the article discusses a variety of video games that can be placed at the spectrum's key points, before discussing how games might reach the spectrum's furthest point: compassion. The research hopes that modelling these abstract psychological concepts on this spectrum can help game designers, players and scholars better understand the range of emotional responses present in games.