Game design guidelines to foster empathic behaviours in school-age children

Empathy supports social development and fosters deep social connections among people. It refers to affective expressions that enable people to understand others and share experiences with them. Childhood is a crucial stage for developing empathy, in which play activities are significant opportunities to exercise empathic behaviour. This research aimed to understand how the design of games can stimulate empathic experiences in school-age children. We used action research to develop guidelines for the design of games to foster empathic behaviour. A group of specialists (designers and psychologists) elaborated design guidelines. They were applied in the development of a game called 'Me too!'. The game was tested with 28 children from the third year of elementary school. Content Analysis allowed the classification of empathic behaviours into three theoretical categories (affective response, cognitive process and empathic attitudes), indicating the design guidelines' relevance.