Digital Games as Empathy Machines -

1. Key Takeaways Empathy, Compassion & Games Dr. Karen Schrier

2. Karen Schrier @drgamermom www.karenschrier.com Book 3: 100 Games for the Classroom & Beyond! Coming out in 1 year Free books!: google LEG ETC Press Schrier

3. Upcoming Research/New Work - 2018-2019 Belfer Fellow/ADL Center for Technology & Society Coming soon: Using games to teach ethics and civics (Oxford University Press) Empathy, XR/Games

4. Can we support empathy, compassion, and perspective- taking skills through games?

5. Can we solve social problems such as bullying, harassment, & bias through games?

7. SNEAK PEEK! Working with ADL/CTS this year to: • Create a game design framework & whitepaper related to identity, bias & empathy. • Run an October Game Jam with Global Game Jam.

8. Three Approaches to Designing Games for Identity, Compassion, and Anti-Bias *Adapted from the ADL Trainer Guide; the IDJA/Anti-Bias Framework (Southern Poverty Law Center); Schrier’s EPIC framework (2015); Schrier’s Moral Learning Framework (2017)

9. 1. Share and reflect on your own identities.

10. 2. Learn about other’s identities and consider how to represent them in a game.

11. 3. Consider and experiment with other perspectives and identities.

12. General principles related to empathy and perspective-taking: • Role-playing or taking on a role • Avatar creation and customization • Interactions with NPCs (non-player characters) • Exploring virtual worlds • Communication with others • Simulation situations, systems, and trends • Deliberation, dialogue and discourse • Choices and consequences • Reading, evaluating, interpreting, and analyzing information • Agency and responsibility • Reflective moments *Adapted from Schrier’s (2015) Epic Framework and Farber/Schrier’s UNESCO paper (2017), “The Limits & Strengths of Games as ‘Empathy Machines’” See more @drgamermom // www.karenschrier.com //

13. 1. Allow players to reflect on and express their own identities.

14. 2. Enable players to interact with and experiment with other identities and perspectives.

15. 3. Help players cultivate awareness of other cultures and individual and systemic biases.

16. 4. Allow players to negotiate their (and other) identities and consider other perspectives.

17. Assumption 1. Games/gaming platforms are “real” communities with evolving, shared norms and values just like any other group.

18. Assumption 2. The design of the game/community can shape behavior.

19. Five Takeaways

20. 1. Players may identify more with their avatar, but empathize more with another character or player, because they need a little distance to support empathy.

21. 2. If a person over-identifies with their own group (their in-group) and/or has low self-esteem, perspective-taking may backfire. Also, this may not work in a highly competitive or conflict-filled type of game.

22. 3. Make sure that any choices are meaningful--both to the game, as well as to the player.

23. 4. Games can help players build trust and make attachments - given the right design and context.

24. 5. Consider when players should feel they have agency, or control, over their gameplay.

25. Moving forward….

26. How do we better support empathy, compassion, and cultural humility?

27. What are the specific design principles that inspire perspective-taking, ethical thinking, trust, identity reflection, resilience, and care?

28. How do we support greater perspective-taking through modeling of behavior, dialogue, emotion, and game design/community design?

29. While still letting people experiment and push the boundaries of gaming and gaming platforms?

30. Questions? Contact me about: Games & empathy, compassions, ethics, perspective-taking, civic engagement, learning & more! Dr. Karen Schrier