海角大神

鈥淒ys4ia鈥� isn鈥檛 your typical video game. There are no bosses to defeat or weapons to soup up. On their face, the challenges are even more simple than the game鈥檚 pixelated graphics: Try to squeeze into an ill-fitting shirt; Find an empty stall in the women鈥檚 restroom. And unlike most games, 鈥淒ys4ia鈥� cannot really be won. That鈥檚 because 鈥淒ys4ia鈥� is more than a game. It鈥檚 an autobiographical depiction of a transgender woman鈥檚 journey through hormone replacement therapy.

Since its release in 2012, 鈥淒ys4ia鈥� has received critical acclaim for its gameplay, but more so for its politics. Through deeply personal vignettes, it appeared to communicate the unseen struggles of an already underrepresented community. It came to be known as an 鈥渆mpathy game,鈥� because it allowed players to 鈥渨alk a mile in the shoes鈥� of a trans woman. This was the promise that so many hung on 鈥淒ys4ia鈥� and other games like it.

But many creators of so-called empathy games have grown to resent the term. Anna Anthropy, creator of 鈥淒ys4ia鈥�, was shocked to find that classrooms and conferences were using her game to teach people 鈥渨hat it鈥檚 like to be a trans woman.鈥� For one thing, she never intended for 鈥淒ys4ia鈥� to be representative of any collective 鈥渢rans experience.鈥� It is simply a window into her individual experience. And while it offers a glimpse of how one trans woman views her world, it is unlikely to generate the same level of mutual understanding that comes from actually interacting with people.

鈥淎s creators 鈥� especially those of us who deal with things like trauma, disability, mental illness or the experience of being a member of a marginalized community 鈥� we want to express these things,鈥� says Karl Hohn, a member of the New York-based art and indie game collective Babycastles. 鈥淏ut you start running the risk of emotional tourism when your work is understood as, 鈥榣isten to this song, play this game, go see this play, watch the film and you鈥檒l understand.鈥� 鈥�

The promise of empathy games

In an era marked by ubiquitous technology, the idea of teaching empathy through video games holds a certain appeal. And there鈥檚 considerable precedent for the illustration of other perspectives through play and storytelling.

鈥淗umans learn empathy through interaction and imitation and play,鈥� Mr. Hohn says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 how children learn empathy. And a lot of studies do suggest that immersing yourself in another person鈥檚 state of mind is beneficial to empathy.鈥�

Games like聽鈥淒ys4ia鈥� can offer an intial step toward understanding the experiences of marginalized communities, but the work of developing true empathy needs to be ongoing and should include both active engagement with people from those communties and a certain amount of self-reflection, says Anthropy.

The label 鈥渆mpathy game鈥� gives players implicit permission to excuse themselves from doing the 鈥渙ngoing, conscious work of addressing their privilege,鈥� Anthropy says. Once players believe they have sufficiently empathized with the subject of the game, they can parachute out of the experience without actually applying that empathy to their lives.

鈥淓mpathy games rarely address how a privileged audience is complicit in the suffering they're dipping their toes into,鈥� Anthropy says, 鈥渁nd ultimately the whole process is a congratulatory pat on the back rather than something that leads into actionable behavior.鈥�

Anthropy responded with an art installation called 鈥淓mpathy Game,鈥� which debuted at Babycastles gallery in 2015. She invited players to strap on a pair of her old boots (fitted with a pedometer) and travel along a winding path. Walking a mile in Anthropy鈥檚 shoes, literally, would win you a single point 鈥� but that鈥檚 all. The game offered some competitive satisfaction, but ultimately taught players nothing about her actual experience. The point, Anthropy says, was to highlight 鈥渉ollow notions鈥� of empathy and allyship won in a few minutes of gameplay.

The term 鈥渆mpathy game,鈥� by design, treats empathy as a goal to be achieved. So when a player completes the game, the subtext is that they have suddenly 鈥渂ecome empathetic鈥� to the experience of a person or group. But empathy is a process of ongoing education and self-reflection, Hohn suggests, not just a state of being.

鈥淚 think, at best, these games could open the door for you to start the self-examination and emotional labor that is required to achieve empathy,鈥� he adds.

Virtual voyeurism?

In recent years, virtual reality has emerged as the latest vehicle for empathy-driven storytelling. When director Chris Milk brought his 鈥淐louds Over Sidra鈥� to the United Nations in 2015, the virtual reality documentary,聽which follows a young Syrian girl in a refugee camp, opened to praise. Sidra鈥檚 plight, it seemed, was especially poignant in 360 degrees.

The following year, UNESCO published a report claiming that digital games could support peace education and conflict resolution. Mr. Milk, in a TED Talk that has since garnered over a million views online, called VR headsets 鈥渆mpathy machines.聽

But critics question the impact of such machines, and who actually benefits from them.

Robert Yang, a game developer and assistant professor at New York University鈥檚 Game Center, is skeptical that the 鈥渞efugee simulators鈥� popularized by Milk can express profound suffering and difficult political situations in a five-minute run time. Moreover, he argues that VR films simply can鈥檛 replace the most powerful type of empathy, the kind you get from talking face-to-face with a real person.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a weird voyeurism involved,鈥� Mr. Yang says. 鈥淪upposedly you鈥檙e there when you put on these VR headsets, but you鈥檙e not really there. You鈥檙e no one. No one acknowledges you [in the virtual space]. There is no relationship there, and I think it鈥檚 really hard to develop empathy when there鈥檚 no relationship.鈥�

Yang says part of the problem might be how new the technology is; that people are so dazzled by the spectacle of VR that they don鈥檛 stop to think critically about it. And when the goggles come off, that momentary reaction of empathy ends.

鈥淚mmersion comes from world building and character development,鈥� says Hohn of Babycastles. 鈥淲e are so invested in the idea that digital technology can help our empathy, that we鈥檙e losing track of how older forms really succeeded there.鈥�

Taking a page from literature

That鈥檚 not to say that VR can鈥檛 embody 鈥渂etter鈥� empathy. Subtlety, Hohn says, is one lesson that interactive storytellers could learn from novels and plays.

鈥淵ou need to sort of bake the empathy in without putting it right on the front,鈥� Hohn says. Literature and theater do this by highlighting the struggles of marginalized groups through nuanced character development, rather than taking an instructional tone.

鈥淸Empathy machines] almost sound like emotional edutainment games,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like 鈥楻eader Rabbit鈥� for how to feel. And most edutainment games aren鈥檛 very good at being a game, and they aren鈥檛 very good at education. The ones that are successful are the ones where the educational goal is secondary to the gameplay and the narrative and the world that鈥檚 been built for the game.鈥�

A better empathy machine might also support complexity. Social and political realities are often messy and morally ambiguous. By asking players to navigate those complexities, interactive storytellers may be able to evoke a more lasting empathy.

鈥�1979 Revolution: Black Friday鈥� is often characterized as an empathy game, though its creators would argue there鈥檚 more to it. The game follows Reza, a young photojournalist who returns to Iran amid revolution, and whose choices inform a number of possible endings. Players are encouraged to consider how their own agency relates to other people and events. Empathy, says executive producer Vassiliki Khonsari, is at the core of the experience.

鈥淚 think if we did have an overarching message, the message was to complicate history,鈥� Ms. Khonsari says. 鈥淭he message was to show how good people end up doing bad things, and how bad people end up doing possibly good things. Once you start unpacking that and becoming cognizant of the consequences of your agency and the decisions you make, you can see how those are really the threads that have created the fabric of history....鈥�

Interactive art can communicate powerful messages, Khonsari says, as long they ask us to reflect dynamically on our values, morals, and interactions with the world.

鈥淲hat鈥檚 unique about video games is [what] they ask of you,鈥� Khonsari remarks. 鈥淵ou have to be an active participant. Through that interactivity, you are giving of yourself and creating a sort of emotional and cognitive investment in the consequences of your actions. That allows you to exercise empathy, because you鈥檙e trying to understand what that position is and what the consequences of that position are.鈥�