Video Games to Foster Empathy: A Critical Analysis of the Potential of Detroit: Become Human and the Walking Dead

Empathy, defined as “the ability to understand and share another’s emotional state or context,” is absolutely essential to human interactions at both the individual and societal levels as it enables people to share and understand other people’s feelings. If empathy is indeed such an important facet of humanity, the question of how it can be learned and taught is crucial. Today, new methods and tools to help individuals foster their empathic abilities are available, including information and communication technologies. Within this context, video games appear to be an interesting new approach for developing empathy since they provide situated, action-oriented, and embodied experiences that allow individuals to “step into someone else’s shoes.” Furthermore, computer games are low cost and widespread among the population and, if effective, could have a wide impact on promoting a more empathic society. Considering this perspective, a critical analysis of the potential of two recent best-selling video games – Detroit: Become Human and The Walking Dead – is discussed, with the aim to offer insights and practical applications for the adoption of these games to promote empathy-related abilities, in players.