Bury Me My Love: A Game-Based Course on Identity in Crisis
Design Challenge for the Games For Learning Team at UNESCO MGIEP:
How can we make an innovative digital learning experience on Bury Me My Love — a game about the Syrian refugee crisis?
In a world of growing fascism and increasing intolerance against immigrants and cultural, social and religious minorities, the game Bury Me My Love strives to question right-wing populist sentiments in a visceral and heartfelt manner. The game transports us straight into the shoes of Majd, who is the husband of the protagonist, Nour. As Majd, you interact with Nour through text messages as she makes her way to Europe from her war-torn home in Syria. The game elicits feelings of loss, helplessness and grief as you try to remain in contact with your wife and help her to make it to safety. The real-time nature of the game means that the user has to wait for Nour for undetermined stretches of time till she regains internet connectivity and replies to your texts. As such interactions mimic messaging for anyone who uses a smartphone, the game is extremely intuitive and easy to play. What makes it hard to play is the deeply emotional reaction it evokes, and the sense of ambiguity that arises while taking decisions for Nour, as one text could essentially change the course of her life and put her at risk. The player also feels the weight of the senselessness of violence, and offers a glimpse of what the life of a refugee would look like.
Inspired from reality, the game’s producer and designer, Florent Maurin — who happens to be a journalist — did extensive research for the game, drawing heavily from interviews with refugees, facts, reports, records, papers, non-fiction texts, fiction books and even comics. You can see the documentation on this link here. The game has a non-linear narrative, consisting of 19 different endings and features 40 different locations. The game has a total of 110,000 words, making it an elaborate work of writing delivered through a game.
The title of the game, “Bury me, my love”, is the translation of an Arabic expression that one would say to a beloved — Bury me, as in put me to rest in the grave, my love — to imply that they wish that they die before their partner, and don’t have to face a life without him/her. These words were directly picked up by the writers of the game from the last text message sent to Dana by her mother as the young Syrian girl left the country. Dana is the Syrian woman whose real life story and struggle became the inspiration for the game.
When the Games For Learning team first came across this game, we were intrigued by its concept, and while we were playing it, different people had different reactions to the game: mixed feelings of confusion, sadness, hopelessness. After having finished the game, no team member was emotionally unaffected by the game. Some wanted to play it again and attempt to save Nour, some wanted to be with themselves for a while to reflect. At MGIEP, we have an hour once a week, dedicated to playing games at the institute, and this was the game we picked to play at one of our weekly Gaming Fridays. The variety in responses of different men and women while playing the game was a short sociological study in itself. A few were irritated by Majd’s apathy, a few felt that Nour asked too many questions, and a few felt that this was too close to reality to be “fun enough for a game”. The observation of the difference in reactions of different players piqued our curiosity because we felt that our impulses reveal a lot about our inherent biases and assumptions. So we decided that this game would be a great pick to design a course upon.
Research
After playing the game multiple times, we began to look into the extensive research done behind the game. Its intent, the original records, readings, articles and interviews that were used by the designers of the game. It was important for us to dig deep in order to identify our target audience for the game based course. We realized that to be able to engage deeply with the content of the game, the target audience would have to be ages 16 and above.
We researched extensively about migration and the Syrian refugee crisis, consuming different media in the form of documentaries, videos, books, comics, infographics, stories related to the themes. We were also cognizant of the fact that this game based course was higher in terms of difficulty level when compared to our earlier games-based course called Florence. (Read more about it here) Researching and reading first-hand accounts about the global refugee crisis was an incredibly emotional experience for us as well, and we had to find ways to deliver pedagogical content, ensure reflection and activities in a sensitive way.
We had to take a critical decision about whether the course should be taken intermittently while playing the game or at the very end after finishing the game. After brainstorming and conversing with people who had played the game, we decided to include a workbook in Module 0 which would record the emotional experience and feelings of the user while playing the game and the rest of the modules that would be done once the user has finished the game.
Structuring the Course for Classroom Learning
Because the game makes us experience and empathize with a refugee’s life, we decided that through the course the user will first step back and explore refugee crisis from a global lens to realize the extent of the challenges involved and how systemic the situation is. Once that is established, we begin to scratch at the surface and explore how the concept of home and belonging changes during and after migration and forced displacement. We then begin to zoom in further about how one’s identity shifts due to war and refugee crisis. The aim is for the user to empathize with the situation and ideally, be eventually stirred to action to do something about the situation — even if that means talking to the new kid at school.
Three different modules of the course.
MIGRATION AND REFUGEE CRISIS
Through the first module, we look at how conflicts and wars affect people at a large scale and cause violence and displacement at a physical, social and emotional level. The effects of war are long lasting and the causes are manifold and complex. In the course, we have focused on the Syrian refugee crisis. The key questions that we have tried to address are: What does it mean to be a refugee? What choices and rights do they have? What are the changes refugees have to deal with?
Through real life case studies, factual data and examples, we have tried to urge users to construct their own knowledge of the refugee crisis. Empathy is an underpinning to most of the activities and games embedded within the course.
HOME AND BELONGING
Through the second module, we have probed into the definition of home and how it is linked to the concept of loss and longing. We have explored what happens to a sense of home and belonging, and how it gets altered during refugee crises. Also, what home means under conflict and how one can settle in a new context.
SELF AND IDENTITY
This module looks at how one’s identity might change, along with one’s sense of self, goals, dreams and ambitions change with time and migration. The module pushes the user to investigate the consequences of identity changes in a new context, and how an individual might have to face discrimination, and how that feeds into the definition of one’s identity. We end the course with actionable steps and small things that could be done in real life to promote inclusion and diversity in an increasingly divisive world.
We would love for you to play the game and take our course. Give us feedback about it so that we can improve and move a step towards using games as tools of innovative digital pedagogies, to make formal and informal learning spaces fun and meaningful!
Share the article with your network if you find value in the article and reach out if you too are working in the intersection of games, technology and social emotional learning.
Course developed by: Mahima Bhalla and Anurati Srivastva, Games for Learning Team, UNESCO MGIEP
Written By: Anurati Srivastva, UNESCO MGIEP
P.S.: This article conveys the individual perspectives of the author and not specifically that of UNESCO MGIEP.
Games For Learning team at UNESCO MGIEP, seeks to embed social and emotional learning skills in learners through digital games in formal and informal education system, in order to achieve the UN SDG 4.7.
