Empathy in Entertainment

[Delta]

I had a (long and stubborn) discussion with a friend a while back and while it circled into various topics the main subject was essentially "Are graphics essential when it comes to empathy?". It focused on video games but could easily be applied to books and movies.

empathy

noun
the intellectual identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another.

He argued that empathy, while it can be found anywhere as long as you are invested in the characters and story, can only go so far with dated graphics and imagination and that realistic-ish images are needed for you to truly feel for someone, using his favourite game Kingdom Hearts 2 as reference.
I agreed that realism has a much easier job of immersing you than pixels or words but I argued that those pixels and words can still achieve the same level of emotion than that of a human or 3D model. I used the more important scenes of Final Fantasy 6 to support my points.

Of course, graphics are not the only factor to consider in this. If a scene is well written and the effects are good but the acting is comical...it won't be tugging at people's heart strings. Also some people cannot empathize with some as easily as others (a very common trait in narcissism if no empathy is found). But we were talking if a scene was well written and delivered, does it matter whether it's found in a book, in Hollywood or a Super Nintendo?

We never came to a conclusion, maybe because this topic hasn't got a simple answer, whether we were just too stubborn to arrive at one or because neither of us had played each other's examples which is why I'm extending this debate to other people.

 

[Pikachu6319]

Are great graphics absolutely necessary for empathy in a game? No. Are great graphics an asset for empathy in a game? I think so, yes.

Let me explain from my perspective. If we're talking a general game of which I have no prior knowledge of the characters the next thing to look at is (bad as it could sound) is what they look like. I have a harder time caring about what seems some random block of pixelated bits made to resemble a character than someone who at least looks like a character, like for instance Yuna and the other party members of FFX/XII.

Also at least for me it's easier to empathize with an innocent or normal person who was put into something they never expected than maybe a convicted murderer or other such convict who is in that same situation. Resident Evil 0 is an example for me. The main male protagonist is at first portrayed to have killed a bunch of innocent people, sentenced to death, then killed the two soldiers to escape. That doesn't engender much empathy for me, and that changes as the story progresses and he says he was set up by his superior for trying to stop what happened. Meanwhile the female protagonist is literally a rookie thrown into a horrendous situation, basically an innocent.

This is also a factor in general. Take the difference in character design for Dead Space and Dead Space 2 (I know this works best for those who have played the game but I will try to explain as best as I can.) In the first game the protagonist is basically seen only in a full body suit with his face covered. He barely shows any reaction to all the horrors in the game bar one toward the end (I will not spoil this, those who played the game will hopefully remember). He never speaks at all and you don't really see his face clearly until the end scene before credits.

Dead Space 2 on the other hand, while following the suit thing, has the protagonist talking with what is supposed to be the proper inflections in his voice and on various cut scenes you will again see his face. I think this is more effective because this gives me insight into him, his thoughts, his personality, his opinions especially as he deals with an important factor left over from the first game. Far better than an emotionless reaction (I'd compare this to a robot but it wouldn't be fair to some that I can name, like Data from Star Trek who I thought was more human than he realized and sometimes more human than most humans I could name).

I agree if it's well written and delivered that can be important too. But just as looks are a matter of opinion, so is this. What is well written for one person could seem lame or wishy washy to another. What sounds serious to one may come off as ridiculous to another. If I know a character as well as can be expected that connection is as important as any dialouge could be. On the other hand, it could be an excellent speech but if I dislike that character immensely then I'm not as inclined to care. Pokemon anime is a good example here. No matter what happens at the end of the day Team Rocket are the antagonists (calling them bad guys is just a bit off in my opinion) and whatever happens with them isn't nearly as important to me as what happens to Ash, Brock, Misty, May, Max, Dawn, Cilan, Iris, Clemont, Bonnie and all of their Pokemon because they're the good guys, they're the ones that they try their best to make us care about, regardless of it's success.

On the other hand I would ask can empathy go too far? Maybe the game has some really graphically great designed characters, but those characters are also the ones you have to fight/oppose/kill.

I think the truth is there is no right answer to this. There are different levels of this, and I wouldn't even necessarily call it all empathy as much as sympathy. Everyone looks at video games, books, shows, movies or what not differently than anyone else. Trying to get someone to empathize with one type of character when they don't care for that genre or whatever is really difficult as is. Even in same genres there are still diffrences.