Gil, Henrique Photo

Henrique Gil

PhD Student

"As the world is becoming more globalised, there is still a struggle in effective communication across cultures. Perspective-Taking (empathy) is a valued tool that academics, researchers and professionals use in both games and in workplaces to improve interpersonal skills. There are various methods to demonstrate and/or encourage perspective-taking in a serious game, various game companies have used such techniques almost as pillars to encourage perspective taking. However, there has been very little to no research on which perspective taking factors contribute to effective communication, especially between people that work in the same place but carry different cultures.
Therefore, a serious game has been made, representing a workplace. A player has the opportunity to pick and choose which perspective taking factors they want to use to improve their communication towards the avatars in the game. The research question is: In a serious game, which perspective taking factors best contribute to interpersonal communication and understanding."