Brief 1 - "The Lost"

(Hemenover & Bowman, 2017) 

• video games have become complex emotional experiences in the last decade or two 

• increasingly, games are designed with a specific emotional response in mind and feature moral dilemmas as part of the storyline 

• action games can improve the cognitive functions necessary for emotional regulation, e.g. working memory, problem-solving 

• open-world games are an opportunity for players to choose which emotion-affecting stimuli to interact with 

  • can meet their own emotional needs 

• also a way of escaping from distressing emotions in the real world 

• strong emotions drive players to engage in different types of games, based on their expectation of the experience 

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(Schmeichel & Demaree, 2010) 

• people with higher working memory capacity are better at regulating their own emotions, especially when those emotions are negative or borne out of negative experiences 

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(Răzman, 2021)

• digital media has become a part of the mourning process 

• games can be a way of expressing grief 

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(Harrer, 2018)

• video games can be used in expressive art therapy 

  • can help with processing complex emotions 

• players invest effort into games, which makes them a target for emotional projection 

  • allows players to add their own meaning from games in ways that fit their personal needs 

• game designers can create motivations for caring by designing scenarios that play into the natural emotional tendencies of intended players e.g. a mother badger and dependent cubs, in a game made for human mothers. 

• in other words, designers need to consider why the player should be invested before trying to simulate loss effectively 

• can use "gender markers" to imply the nature of the relationship between characters 

• allows for emotional projection, especially if the game space is more ambiguous - i.e. a specific response is not forced onto the player 

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(Kübler-Ross, 1969) 

• 5 stages of grief 

  • denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance 

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(Ryan & Deci, 2000) 

• having autonomy helps people to engage more emotionally in a task or social condition 

  • increases motivation

• being restricted can foster listlessness and apathy 

• in order for a reward to be effective and motivating (e.g. winning a game), the person must feel as though they have achieved it of their own volition 

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(Tanenbaum & Tanenbaum, 2009) 

• "It’s our job [as game designers] to build worlds in which players can live a story of their own creation" (Adams, 1999, as cited in...)

• player agency doesn't have to just be about making choices that matter narratively, but about expressing oneself 

• this increases emotional engagement in the game, which is central to using games as a platform for dealing with loss 

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(Church, 2022)

• games elicit emotional non-optional responses that are not agreed on prior to playing 

  • this response will vary from player to player, and are hard to regulate 

• the designer/s must consider the "ethical agency" of players, as well as identifying the appropriate maturity level of the target audience, and acknowledge and minimise potential harm 

• i.e. recognising that an emotionally-charged game about grief and loss may not be appropriate for someone who is unable to separate the game from reality, or who is unwilling to engage with potentially distressing content 

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(Sicart, 2011) 

• players are not "passive moral creatures" who can be easily influenced by the moral dilemmas present in video games 

• whether or not a game is appropriate depends on the player's maturity - emotionally and morally 

• players have individual cultural and moral backgrounds, which needs to be considered 

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References: 

Church, B. (2022, July 7). Computer Game Design: A Code of Ethics. Proceedings of the Wellington Faculty of Engineering Ethics and Sustainability Symposium. https://ojs.victoria.ac.nz/wfeess/article/view/7641

Harrer, S. (2018). Games and Bereavement. In Media Studies. Transcript Verlag. https://doi.org/10.14361/9783839444153

Hemenover, S. H., & Bowman, N. D. (2018). Video games, emotion, and emotion regulation: Expanding the scope. Annals of the International Communication Association, 42(2), 125–143. https://doi.org/10.1080/23808985.2018.1442239

Kübler-Ross, E. (1969). On Death and Dying. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203010495

Răzman, D. C. (2021). PRESS “F” TO PAY RESPECTS: Grief and memorialization in video games [Masters’ Thesis]. https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1576335&dswid=5719

Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-Determination Theory and the Facilitation of Intrinsic Motivation, Social Development, and Well-Being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68–78. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68

Schmeichel, B. J., & Demaree, H. A. (2010). Working memory capacity and spontaneous emotion regulation: High capacity predicts self-enhancement in response to negative feedback. Emotion, 10(5), 739–744. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019355

Sicart, M. (2011). The Ethics of Computer Games. In Google Books. MIT Press. https://books.google.com.au/books?id=bO6LK2wYNXMC&dq=ethics+of+loss+in+games&lr=&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Tanenbaum, K., & Tanenbaum, T. J. (2009, December 12). Commitment to meaning: A reframing of agency in games. Escholarship.org. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6f49r74n