Exploring empathy through negotiation

As technology has increased the potential for small groups or powerful individuals to cause global harm, the need for humankind to work together has grown. Empathy may be one solution. There have been many attempts to make games that evoke empathy. However, the majority of these games utilize an explicitly didactic and coercive approach to empathy. The goal of Souper Bowl was to evoke empathy between players through a self-directed approach framed by negotiation. Souper Bowl’s game mechanics enable the players to negotiate in a context in which they may explore a range of interactions, from cooperation to competition. This paper reviews the literature related to empathy and negotiation in games. It then describes Souper Bowl as an exploration of new mechanics to evoke empathy in games.