"How can videogames portray love and loss? Games and Bereavement answers this question by looking at five videogames and carrying out a participatory design study with grievers. Sabine Harrer highlights possible connections between grief and videogames, arguing that game design may help make difficult personal feelings tangible. After a brief literary review of grief concepts and videogame theory, the book deep-dives into examples of tragic inter-character relationships from videogame history. Building on these examples, the book presents a case study on pregnancy loss as a potential grief experience that can be validated through game design dialogue." (Publisher description)
PART 1: THEORY
Videogame Representation, 23
Understanding Bereavement, 45
PART 2: ANALYSIS
Of Limit Breaks and Ghost Glitches: Losing Aeris in Final Fantasy VII, 69
“You Were There”: Losing Yorda in Ico, 85
Conjugal Love: Losing the Spouse in Passage, 105
Losing Big Brother in Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, 121
“Let’s All Be Good Mothers OK”: Losing the Badger Children in Shelter, 143
Designing Loss and Grief: A Summary, 161
PART 3: DESIGN
Grief-Based Game Design: A Case Study, 181
Ideation with the Bereaved: The Trauerspiel Workshop, 193
Designing Jocoi: A Game about Pregnancy Loss, 219
On the Question of Impact: Evaluating Jocoi, 239
Making Space for Grief: Conclusive Thoughts, 253