Identifying Factors Affecting the Empathy of Players in Serious Games

Abstract

Serious games are a type of digital game that is designed for a purpose other than just entertainment. These games are used in various fields such as defense, education, scientific exploration, health care, emergency management, urban planning, engineering, and politics. Today, users expect software programs to be not only functional but also attractive. This is the most important reason for the increasing growth of serious games. The elements of entertainment, excitement, and mentality embedded in serious games, motivate players and they can, by immersing themselves in the game, eventually into a state of empathy called Empathy Identification. In other words, serious video games are one of the most important entertainment tools that play an important role in people's empathy with various products of creative industries. In this study, we examine the factors affecting empathy between players in serious games. For this purpose, we use two path analysis models of linear regression and artificial neural networks. The results of this research have interesting implications for serious game designers.