Case study: 2B Emphatic

The case study method is ideal when a ‘how’ or ‘why’ question is being asked about a contemporary set of events over which the researcher has no control (ref). To better understand the phenomenon of character 2B triggering empathy in gamers, a single case study was conducted to address the following research question: Why does character 2B from the digital game “Nier Automat” trigger empathy in gamers? Eleven players volunteered for the experiment: 2bornot2b (G1), omegaweapon (G2), dogged contender (G3), A2bZeronines (G4), BB (G5), 12345 (G6), Hyuis (G7), move (G8), Shingetsu (G9), and Nierautomataplayer (G10). Participant Thi99 (G11) was eliminated from the analysis due to corrupted recording files. The participants' characterization involves their age, education, level of NierAutomata completion, and personality characterization (FFM). This study uses the facial action coding system (FACS) to assess the emotions of eleven players during specific scenes from nier automata—chapter 01: prologue, chapter 10: loss (sub-chapter two), and chapter 11: 2b’s final moments (sub-chapter six). Semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore the emotional impact of these scenes and the players' empathetic responses toward character 2B. Furthermore, biometric data were recorded using Biopac. All interviews were conducted in Portuguese, and the original transcripts are provided for transparency. The research aims to determine the extent of player empathy for 2B.