What is it about?
Empathy games are a promising yet new research avenue that explores how to design empathic game experiences that would help children to understand and address the emotions of other people. Research in this field was primarily done in the USA and there is a research gap in understanding how empathy game design can apply and differ from the contexts of other countries. Our study replicated a study earlier conducted in the USA, aiming to explore the dynamic of the PD process, and identify specifics and challenges for PD methodology related to empathy and game design in the Indian context. We conducted a series of participatory design (PD) sessions with 18 Indian children between 7 and 11 years old. This paper reports our preliminary findings, including the following: (1) it might be challenging for Indian children to discuss and design for empathy and emotions-related topics, (2) using the English language can be a barrier while working with Indian children of 8 years old and younger, (3) cultural context affects roles children play in the design process. This paper contributes insights on identifying areas for further methodological work in PD for the Indian context.
Featured Image
Photo by Jesus Loves Austin on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Empathy games are a promising yet new research avenue that explores how to design empathic game experiences that would help children to understand and address the emotions of other people. Research in this field was primarily done in the USA and there is a research gap in understanding how empathy game design can apply and differ from the contexts of other countries.
Perspectives
There is a need to explore how cultural context can affect the design process and, in particular, participatory design methodology. It is also important to explore what types of dynamics and challenges mixed groups as well as a group facilitator can bring to the PD process. This research is an important step toward designing games for social-emotional learning and empathy further.
Ekaterina Muravevskaia
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Designing Empathy Game: Case on Participatory Design Session with children within the Indian context, June 2023, ACM (Association for Computing Machinery),
DOI: 10.1145/3585088.3593862.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
