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.

案例研究法适用于研究者无法掌控的当代事件集合上提出“如何”或“为何”类研究问题的场景（ref）。为深入理解角色2B引发游戏玩家共情这一现象，本研究开展单案例研究以解答如下研究问题：数字游戏《尼尔：机械纪元》（NieR:Automata）中的角色2B为何会引发游戏玩家的共情？

本实验共有11名玩家自愿参与：2bornot2b（G1）、omegaweapon（G2）、dogged contender（G3）、A2bZeronines（G4）、BB（G5）、12345（G6）、Hyuis（G7）、move（G8）、Shingetsu（G9）与Nierautomataplayer（G10）。参与者Thi99（G11）因录制文件损坏被排除在本次分析之外。参与者的特征信息包括年龄、受教育程度、《尼尔：机械纪元》通关进度，以及基于大五人格模型（Five-Factor Model, FFM）的人格特征表征。

本研究采用面部动作编码系统（Facial Action Coding System, FACS）对11名玩家在《尼尔：机械纪元》特定剧情场景中的情绪状态进行评估，涉及的场景分别为：序章（第01章）、“失落”剧情（第10章，子章节2）以及“2B的最终时刻”（第11章，子章节6）。同时，本研究通过半结构化访谈探究上述剧情场景带来的情绪影响，以及玩家对角色2B的共情反应。此外，本研究使用Biopac设备记录参与者的生物特征数据。

所有访谈均以葡萄牙语开展，为保障研究透明度，我们提供了原始访谈转录文本。本研究旨在确定玩家对角色2B的共情程度。