Five Questions: Empathy

1. I’m on the theme of empathy because I’m interested in how emotional engagement works in games as opposed to non-participatory media, and empathy with the emotions expressed is what comes to mind when talking about emotional engagement with art. But is that too limiting a view of emotional engagement? What other kinds of emotional responses come up when we’re perceiving art?

2. When it comes to empathy specifically, are we talking about empathizing with the emotions of the characters, if there are any, or with the emotions of the artist or designer?

3. If we are talking about characters, what about a character makes us able or unable to empathize with it? Is our ability to engage with game characters different from our ability to engage with literary characters, and if so, why?

4. Does empathy with an avatar character work differently than empathy with an NPC?

5. If differences like this do exist, that may imply that we experience sudden shifts in style of emotional engagement when switching from gameplay to cutscene. If this is true, how does that affect our emotional experience of a game as a whole?

Sketch: Empathy

“(2) The “Heads in the Sand” Objection

‘The consequences of machines thinking would be too dreadful. Let us hope and believe that they cannot do so.’

This argument is seldom expressed quite so openly as in the form above. But it affects most of us who think about it at all. We like to believe that Man is in some subtle way superior to the rest of creation. It is best if he can be shown to be necessarily superior, for then there is no danger of him losing his commanding position. The popularity of the theological argument is clearly connected with this feeling. It is likely to be quite strong in intellectual people, since they value the power of thinking more highly than others, and are more inclined to base their belief in the superiority of Man on this power.

I do not think that this argument is sufficiently substantial to require refutation. Consolation would be more appropriate: perhaps this should be sought in the transmigration of souls.”

– Alan M. Turing, On Computing Machinery and Intelligence, 1950

“Preliminary Evaluation of the Interactive Drama Façade“, by Rachel Knickmeyer and Michael Mateas.

“Empathy: Its Ultimate and Proximate Bases”, by Stephanie D. Preston and Frans B. M. de Waal.