ABSTRACT
The notion of creating empathy through games has seen its peaks and valleys. There have been scholars who have championed games as the next great empathy medium and those who have countered this by decrying such work as a myth. Generally, research indicates a potential for the ability of games to increase empathy. The chapter outlines some of the core discussions about creating empathy in games and the central concepts of designing with empathy in mind. Games are separate from real life, but empathy games seek to develop, at least temporarily, real emotion in players. Similar to persuasive play, the games aim to help players move from less of a shared emotional understanding or feeling toward more of one. For empathy games, one common approach is to reposition the emotional meter of the experience in order to help players build an emotional understanding.
