Building empathic communication through digital games

Digital games are widely found in the daily life practices of most individuals born in or witnessed to digital age. The main purpose of the research is to determine whether digital games, which add value and strengthen their roots due to their place in daily life practices, develop or change individuals' empathic tendencies in a positive way (in the selected topic). For this purpose, the This War of Mine game was chosen within the universe of digital games, where empathic messages were coded and civilians not warriors or military trying to survivewithin the war environment. Qualitative methods were used to determine whether the This War of Mine game, which emphasizes the current multi-faceted situation of people exposed to war in the rejected position in sociometric pattern, ie, disadvantaged, is able to extend the perception, comprehension, reception, meaning, understanding walls. In this research, semi-structured interview form, which is a qualitative data collection technique, was conducted with the player/participants in two in-depth interviews as pre and final. Volunteering was the basis of the selection of the sample players in the study. Among the volunteers, all the people (21 people) who did not play the This War of Mine game and who had the technical opportunities to play the game were identified as the working group, and the preliminary and final interviews were conducted and the data were obtained. The data obtained were analyzed with descriptive analysis, content analysis and numerical content analysis methods and the findings were interpreted in relation to the theoretical text of the research. Finally, the findings of the research have been associated and interpreted with the Symbolic Interaction Theory and Cultural Indicators and Cultivation Theory, which are guided by the research. As a result of the correlation of the findings obtained from the analyzes performed under the methods of the research under the umbrella of theoretical texts and theories, the players who interacted with the digital game thought about the meanings of the transmitted messages, compared them with the meaning/s existing in their own selves, and reached an interpretation. Digital game positively developed, changed, or mediated the emergence of new empathic tendencies. In addition; within the context of the sample digital game, it is possible to say that individuals are involved in the processes of cultivation, learning, awareness, understanding and meaning, and thus their affective, cognitive and behavioral empathic tendencies increase, develop, consolidate or be routed in a positive direction.