I thought it would be beneficial to write down how and why we are making a meaningful game. There are many ways to make a game worth playing, I do not purpose to say this is the only way, nor does every game need to have meaning. Still, it is beneficial to express the core ideals important to us.
We want the player’s life to be better for having played our game. We will do this in part by fulfilling the core human need for relatedness as described in self-determination theory.
We want players to share a personal connection. This goes deeper than an exchange of gunfire or virtual goods. The systems that compose the game encourage empathy, trust, sharing, interdependence, and cooperation.
A game should stand on its own as something of value without relying on manipulative psychological tactics such as Skinner box techniques. The intrinsic value of this game is that it provides an environment for relationship building between its players. Through playing it, you not only experience self-discovery, but increased empathy and connectedness with the other player.
During play tests so far players have been without previous knowledge of the game or its intent. They start out with competitive banter, but within the first three levels all competitiveness is gone and is replaced by cooperation.
We live in a media saturated world. Media choices impact our lives in both positive and negative ways. Our goal is create media that makes life better.
That this is a realistic goal is backed by a study conducted at BYU. They found positive associations for co-playing video games between girls and their parents.[1]