Empathy

Ludic Experience social_relational · both

Empathy captures feeling into the figures in the game – companions, strangers, creatures. Players feel with them, worry about them, grow attached to them; what happens to a figure moves them.

Design question – Do you want players to feel with the figures in your game – and are they moved by what happens to them?

Reference example – The Last of Us: Ellie stops to watch a giraffe – and you want the moment never to end. Tamagotchi: the little creature is hungry, and you drop everything. Ico: holding the girl’s hand, pulling her across the abyss, not leaving her behind.