A quick dive into immigration-themed video games
For you, I took a dive into the world of video games on real-life issues. More specifically, video games on the theme of immigration. When I say “on the theme of immigration”, I mean games where immigration takes centre stage. Although the notion of borders exists in many other strategy games like Civilisation or Age of Empires, they do not fall into this category. In these games, crossing borders and immigration are in fact just part of gameplay, like the quantity of gold coins or wood required to conquer an enemy village.
My issues with serious games
Let’s start with my least favourite type of game, serious games. This awful oxymoron refers to games where the main purpose is not to entertain the player, but to educate him or her. Why do I dislike this type of game so much? Because gameplay is approximate, the educational side takes up too much space and there is no humour.
Even so, a few games do stand out. One of them is called Syrian Journey: Choose your own escape route. The gameplay is on the same lines as the well-known “choose your own adventure” gamebooks. You play the part of a Syrian refugee who wants to travel to Europe. Throughout the story, you will have to take key decisions, like choosing from which country to start your journey to Europe or deciding to give in (or not) to racketeering by Libyan militiamen. The game’s developers chose to use pencil drawings, pastel colours and a white background, and to avoid the excessively intimidating graphic designs (here is a blatant example) used by many other serious games on this topic. This approach is not just a coincidence. It is the direct consequence of what I would call “an obsession with empathy”.
Empathy at any cost
Video games have an enormous potential to immerse the player in another reality. Refugee support organisations are well aware of this and are striving to create environments to make us feel this sought-after empathy. What is empathy? It is the ability to understand what someone else is feeling by putting yourself in their shoes. This is different from sympathy, which describes the ability to share someone else’s feelings. In simple terms, we can feel empathy for someone who is suffering without actually (feeling sympathy) sharing their suffering:
“We become empathetic when we put ourselves in someone else’s shoes, when we understand what he is experiencing, what is happening to him, what he perceives, what he envisages, his point of view. Then we can either feel what he is feeling, or not feel anything at all.” Gérard Jorland
To create empathy, video game designers can place emphasis on particular elements of the story that are likely to generate immersion for the player. This can be achieved through in-depth research to make the game’s situations, dialogue, stories and characters realistic, or by using videos, realistic graphics, virtual reality headsets, etc. The idea here is to create fiction-based emotions[1]. Finding home is a very good example of a video game that utilises the storytelling potential of this media intelligently.
The game invites you to play the part of a young 16-year-old Muslim woman who belongs to the Rohingya community. This Burmese community is subjected to horrific repression by the government in power, forcing huge numbers of Rohingyas to flee to neighbouring countries.
The chosen interface for this game is a smartphone. The player has access to Kathijah’s contacts, photos and music, and as you play you will receive calls, videos, audio messages, etc. To progress through the story, you will have to reply to these messages. The replies are multi-choice, but do not really have much impact on the story itself. This is definitely a game where techniques that generate fiction-based emotions play an important role. These emotions are triggered by the way in which the story is presented: screenplay, realistic videos, immersive game experience (smartphone interface for example), etc.
Unfortunately, this game characterizes everything I dislike about serious games: no enjoyment, no real consequences during gameplay (a wrong answer does not mean “game over”). In my opinion, it is more like an interactive school book than a real video game. These characteristics, which apply to many serious games, are not only an obstacle to my own fulfilment, but also an obstacle to experiencing many other emotions that could usefully contribute to feeling a form of empathy. For me, it would be easier to generate these kinds of emotions in another context, rather than with serious games.
Artistic approach and empathy
The Super Mario parody
Despite what you might suppose from the previous games, using a video game environment to illustrate the issue of migration is not a barrier to creating strong artwork. The Super Mario parody produced by the Syrian artist Samir al-Mufti is a prime example.
A Dystopian Document Thriller
Achieving this does not necessarily mean disregarding all the usual characteristics of video games — interaction, problem-solving, etc., as demonstrated by Lucas Pope’s acclaimed game Papers, please. This game is often mentioned as an example that video game designers are just as capable as artists and film producers of creating true works of art.
From a conceptual point of view, Papers, please is a gaming UFO. The game takes place in a fictitious country under dictatorship. You play the role of a customs officer who has to review immigrant’s paperwork to feed his family.
The regulations governing the entry of immigrants into the country change according to the fluctuating political situation. This means that you will be faced with many ethical choices. For example, you might decide to let a woman through to see her sick grandfather on the other side of the wall, to accept bribes, or to confiscate passports. Lucas Pope’s game doesn’t just give you the option of making ethical or less ethical choices, it obliges you to do so. In fact, because your earnings are meagre, poor performance will force you to take difficult decisions — buying either food or medicine, paying either the heating or the rent. In this way, Lucas seeks for you to experience the dehumanizing work of a customs officer.
The gameplay mechanisms that he uses do not just make the game more immersive. They also cause players to feel gameplay emotions [2]. Let me explain: when you watch a film, you cannot influence the story in any way. If the customs officer decides to deviate from the country’s regulations and lets a woman through illegally because he is touched by her situation (she is going to see her sick father), and if he is subsequently sent to prison for this, you are likely to experience fear for this character, which is a fiction-based emotion. However, if you take this decision yourself, you would feel frightened for yourself rather than for the character.
This distinction is important because it opens up a new range of possibilities regarding the emotions felt by the spectator/gamer. The gameplay mechanisms in Papers, please are not only used to make the game enjoyable, but they also generate gameplay emotions. This is key to why Papers, please is a powerful game, because it makes the player feel empathy. Whatever experience you may have playing this game, whether you love it or hate it, whether you finish it several times or give up after half an hour, it will definitely leave you with a lasting impression. Here is one person’s reaction, to illustrate the feelings that a player can experience during Lucas Pope’s game:
“As a video game, Papers, Please is stressful and often unpleasant, but as a piece of art it’s arresting and affective. Lucas Pope has captured the horror and doldrums of the gatekeepers of the world. I’m glad he kept the experience brief. I don’t know how much more of it I would have been able to handle.” Matthew Gault
As a bonus, a real cracker
The time has finally come to present the best game in the list: Bury me, my love. In this game, you play the role of Nour’s boyfriend; she is a young Syrian woman who is trying to reach Europe. To progress through the game, you will have to communicate with her via SMS to help her to reach Europe safely. Using your smartphone (the game interface is a smartphone), you will be able to give her advice, take crucial decisions for her or simply try to make her laugh. What makes this game captivating is the huge amount of research behind it, as well as the incredible scriptwriting, both of which make the game particularly immersive. The game is so realistic that I surprised myself by being worried when Nour (the heroin) took much longer to reply than usual. If you don’t know which game to start with then choose this one, you won’t be disappointed, I promise.
Of course, there are many other games that are not listed here. I am quite convinced that a large number of other games, both very good ones and very bad ones, also deserved to be mentioned in this article. Nevertheless, I hope that this article, in addition to convincing you to steer clear of serious games, will at least succeed in inspiring you to explore some new horizons in video games.
Bibliography:
‘Papers, Please’ Almost Gave Me a Nervous Breakdown
https://warisboring.com/papers-please-almost-gave-me-a-nervous-breakdown/
Peut-on évaluer l’empathie ? École normale supérieure — PSL
Empathie et thérapeutique,Gérard Jorland. Dans Recherche en soins infirmiers 2006/1 (N° 84), pages 58 à 65.
https://www.cairn.info/revue-recherche-en-soins-infirmiers-2006-1-page-58.htm
Jeux vidéo et émotions. Bernard Perron
Quand le jeu vidéo se saisit de la question des migrants
https://larevuedesmedias.ina.fr/quand-le-jeu-video-se-saisit-de-la-question-des-migrants
Les Rohingyas de Birmanie à la dérive
Refugee Mario: The video game of the migrant crisis
[1] Fiction emotions are emotions that result from the gamer’s position as a witness (witness emotions). They are also generated by the comparison of highly-magnified fictional events with the emotional potential of comparable events in everyday life. Bernard Perron Jeu vidéo et émotions.
[2] Playing a video game doesn’t just mean understanding a story, but rather solving problems, overcoming obstacles, fighting enemies, exploring a virtual world, etc. The gamer’s actions and the way in which this world reacts will indeed generate “out-of-this-world” emotions, known as gameplay emotions.
By: Folachade ADEDJOUMA
Illustration: ©Matthieu Godet — TPH/FIGS/ARTE
Translation: Jenny Fowler
To read the original version in French, click here !
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