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Playing with Empathy

Playing with Empathy. Eric Gordon Emerson College. Digital Role-Playing Games in Public Meetings.

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Playing with Empathy

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  1. Playing with Empathy Eric Gordon Emerson College • Digital Role-Playing Games in Public Meetings Gordon, E., & Schirra, S. (2012). Playing with Empathy: Digital Role Playing Games in Public Meetings. In Communities and Technologies 2011. Presented at the Communities and Technologies 2011, Brisbane.

  2. Public Meetings

  3. While nearly all U.S. municipal officials value public engagement... • 81% agreed processes typically attracted same residents who complained or promoted favorite issues • 68% agreed cities would make more engagement efforts and be more effective if citizens participated more constructively Barnes, W., and Mann, B. Making local democracy work: Municipal officials' views about public engagement. Research report from the National League of Cities Center for Research and Innovation, Washington, DC (2009).

  4. Likewise, residents doubt impacts of their participation “Forget my question. Never mind. I wouldn’t believe the answer anyway.” —Opening public comment, public meeting in Bartlesville, Oklahoma McComas, K. Trivial pursuits: Participant views of public meetings. Journal of Public Relations Research, 15, 2 (2003), 91–115.

  5. Games for constructive dialogue • Not a new concept: U.S. HUD's Model Cities Program • Trade-Off (1967): Neighborhood role-play Game Public Process

  6. Augmented Deliberation

  7. Case Study: Participatory Chinatown Can games increase empathy? Broaden perspective?

  8. Boston's Chinatown • 46 Acre Neighborhood in Boston • Updating Chinatown Master Plan • Challenging context: Gentrified, unique identity, ethnically and socioeconomically diverse

  9. What's LAN got to do with it? • Internet broadens access, but face-to-face important • Challenge: design a multi-lingual, networked game to reframe a master planning meeting

  10. Designing with, not for, a community • 18 youth from A-VOYCE worked as game designers • Characters: Interviews with residents to determine types of characters • 3D Environment: Capture real photos of Chinatown for the in-game model • Opportunities: What opportunities for housing, employment, and socializing exist in neighborhood?

  11. Part I: Gameplay • Select a character/quest • Discover local opportunities (Decision Cards) • Make the best decision as your character

  12. Part II: In-Room

  13. Part III: Personal Decisionmaking • Priority Card Screen • Rank personal values and see a related walkable, 3D scenario (residential, commercial, mixed-use) • Discussion about the viability of the scenarios

  14. Research Questions • Did the experience of playing a character affect the participant's overall experience of the planning process? • Did the experience of playing a character affect how players made decisions during the meeting?

  15. Methods • Participatory Chinatown was used in two meetings due to popularity. Focus for this study is on the resident-only meeting, which had 48 attendees. • Paper surveys after meeting ( n=38; 78% response rate) • 5-point Likert scale • Eight one-on-one interviews with participants

  16. Results: Meeting diversity • According to local planners, the median age of Participatory Chinatown meeting, 30, was about half the median age of typical planning meetings • 90% of survey respondents had "little or no experience" with community planning processes

  17. Results: Empathy for Characters • “I consider Chinatown a community I'm familiar with, but I've never thought of it from the perspective of an elder. It's nothing I've really considered. I thought that was really interesting. Just for [my character] to find seniors to associate with and have a community with so she wouldn't have to live alone.”—High school student • "The game for me was all the characters. I feel like I have a personal relationship with all of them because I’ve lived here for so long." —Resident

  18. Results: Transfer to Personal Decisions • “I understand what you’re trying to do, but . . .”

  19. Challenge: Role-play and personal decisions • No immediate correlation between role-play and personal decisions • Immediate translation of emotional experience into a rational conclusion = difficult and ambitious • Difficult to stretch game beyond the "magic circle" • Different sets of rules apply in decision-making (morals, peer pressure vs points, quests) • However, games can reframe the processes by which people make decisions • Changes the context for the decision, not the decision itself

  20. THANK YOU. Eric Gordon Emerson College Eric_gordon@emerson.edu @ericbot

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