December 2020 - Empathy Games
December 3, 2020 - Geri Zeldes
Photo Caption: The Empathic Games Initiative consists of five student-designed games 1. On the Outside, Looking In 2. Calisthenia 3. A Journey Through Darkness 4. Kin-dread, and 5. Trans Folks Walking. Credit: Geri Alumit Zeldes
MSU Empathic Games exhibit at a Pop-up Museum in Detroit
From 160 submissions to the “FUTURE PRESENT: Design in a Time of Urgency” exhibit, curators selected MSU’s Empathic Games as one of 16 to feature at the Science Gallery Detroit, a new pop-up museum located in the Bedrock Building at the corner of Woodward and Michigan Avenues.
Photo caption: Talitha Johnson, Communications Manager of the Science Gallery Detroit, located at 1001 Woodward Ave., said more than 300 have visited the pop-up museum and more than 50 news organizations reported on the exhibit. Credit: Science Gallery Detroit
Telepresence robots replace docents, creating a futuristic scene may be from the year 2030. Visitors then encounter custom-made plexiglass over laptop keyboards, a barrier that deters touching and shakes us out of our time warp to remind us that it is indeed 2020, the year of COVID-19, when much thought must go into a museum to keep the exhibits touchless.
On a round table at the temporary museum sits those five computers each featuring one game, each designed by a team of MSU ComArtSci Students as part of the Empathic Games Initiative, a project that generated games that address anxiety, family relationships, body shaming, gender identity and other discrimination faced by marginalized groups. The Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Initiative’s Creating Inclusive Excellence Grant program supported the work of more than 30 students over a two-year period. Half a dozen faculty in the College of Communication Arts & Sciences mentored the students. ComArtSci is home to one of the Top 10 Game Design and Development programs ranked by the Princeton Review.
Unfortunately, FUTURE PRESENT closed early this year due to COVID-19 precautions. Stay up to date on the latest events at Science Gallery Detroit here.
To read more about the Empathic Games Project, go to Promoting Meaningful Play: Empathic Games Showcased in Science Gallery Exhibit.
To download three of the games, go to Empathicgames.com.