A quick dive into immigration-themed video games - Cologne ...

A quick dive into immigration-themed video
games
       Tido — tell it differently !
       Sep 5, 2019 · 8 min read

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
https://youtu.be/EQZlNXKSp3Q

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
https://ludicine.ca/sites/ludicine.ca/files/Perron%20-
%20Game%20Design%20de%20jeu%20video%20-%202006.pdf

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
http://www.rfi.fr/asie-pacifique/20150518-birmanie-rohingyas-musulmans-
birmanie-malaisie-indonesie-thailande-non-ingerence/

Refugee Mario: The video game of the migrant crisis

Refugee Mario: The video game of the migrant crisis
 It's not quite what you'd imagine when you think of Super Mario
 and his adventures through the fictional Mushroom…
 www.bbc.com

[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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