Video games change the way you feel about the world — and yourself
Games challenge us
Some of my favorite games that elicit similar responses areFirewatch, a walking simulator where you play as a fire lookout, and Papers Please, a game where you’re an immigration officer for an authoritarian government deciding who can enter. Each offers vastly varying perspective-challenging experiences through player input and mechanics (the systems of rules in the game), allowing for experiences that are unique to gaming.
We know that games can create thought-provoking or reflective experiences thanks to the work of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) researchersTom Cole and Marco Gillies. While gaming academicsJulia Bopp, Elisa Mekler, and Klaus Opwisdiscovered how a game can cause negative emotions, such as guilt or sadness, but somehow still result in an overall positive but emotionally challenging experience.
To get at the heart of what makes these experiences’ perspectives challenging, from the mundane to the horizon-shattering, I had players record, report, and unpack their experiences in minute detail. Myfirst studyidentified small eureka-type moments that change how players interact with a game. I labeled these examples of “micro-transformative reflection” – micro in the sense that they don’t shatter someone’s world view, but are still transformative given they change how players act. An example of this is a player who felt extreme guilt after killing an innocent person and avoided killing anyone for the remainder of the game.
Many participants started to get philosophical over topics of morality, predestination, free will, justice, and truth. For instance, one participant remarked howThe Stanley Parable, which breaks the “fourth wall” by making players battle with a narrator, made them confront how much control they have over the choices they make in their own life. This, the player said, was entirely inspired by how the narrator remarked on their choices in the game.
Finding out how they challenge us
I am currently recruiting for the largest study I have conducted to date. I posted an advert to a Redditforum dedicated to gamingsearching for participants to play a potentially perspective-challenging game over two weeks and keep a diary. I had expected a middling response, with five to 10 willing participants, but awoke the next morning to 500+ upvotes (essentially likes that improve the visibility of a post), 126 comments , and a massive influx of new participants. This is further evidence of how commonplace these experiences are and why they are worth further study.
The comments were full of discussion regarding a vast array of games that had challenged players in some way. One user left the following comment about their experience with the dark fantasy gameHellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice:
The game, which is designed to reflect the experience of living with psychosis, clearly provided an emotionally challenging experience, provoking difficult feelings that fall potentially on the life-changing end of the spectrum.
I’m more than halfway through my study, having gathered 11 participants to speak in detail about their experiences. Across all my research, it is clear how impactful games can be, and I hope that my research continues to uncover the powerful ways in which games can challenge people’s thoughts and feelings.
This article byMatthew Whitby, IGGI PhD Student,University of Yorkis republished fromThe Conversationunder a Creative Commons license. Read theoriginal article.
Story byThe Conversation
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