Elude - Playing the Opposite of Play The purpose of this presentation is twofold: First, to share with attendants the process and results of an exciting collaboration between video game design research and child psychiatry that fruited in Elude, the video game on depression. Second, to explore opportunities for use of specifically designed video games in mental health care. For many, a video game on depression may seem impossible or at least intangible. After all, the opposite of play is not “work”; it is “depression”. Yet, application of video game design research with input from psychiatry culminated in Elude, a polished yet controversial video game prototype about depression that intends to make the feelings of this dangerous, mental illness experientially tangible. Such a game may make it possible for friends and relatives of people living with depression understand what their loved ones are going through. The game approaches depression from a subjective point of view. It models the inner experiences during depression that seldom find a voice. Elude’s overall structure and mechanics were designed over the course of 2010 at Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab’s summer program by Doris C. Rusch with Atilla Ceranoglu as medical advisor who ensured clinical accuracy of the modeled system. During the presentation, you will get a chance to see a demonstration of the finished game and learn about the development process, which included many hard decisions that balanced the developers’ desire for creative freedom with the necessity to keep the core vision in place and the game’s metaphors consistent. We will also explore further opportunities for Elude and other video games in the service of mental health counseling.

1. Elude - playing the
opposite of play
Doris C. Rusch; G4H Europe, 2011
Thursday, November 3, 2011

2. game design researcher
meets therapist at:
Doris C. Rusch, Dr. T. Atilla Ceranoglu, M.D.
MIT GAMBIT Game Lab Mass. General Hospital
dcrusch@mit.edu aceranoglu@partners.org
Thursday, November 3, 2011

3. research: games tackling the
human condition
+
purposeful game design
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4. our concept of choice:
Thursday, November 3, 2011

5. Facts on Depression
• 2.2 million depressed adolescents in
2004
• More than twice likely to use drugs
• 7% may commit suicide
• Less than half (40%) received
treatment
...Under-response!
Thursday, November 3, 2011

6. Step 1:
defining the purpose of the game
Thursday, November 3, 2011

7. NOT to cure depression
but:
• informing friends and relatives of
depressed
• increase understanding of how
depression manifests
• generally, raise awareness for this
dangerous mental health issue
Thursday, November 3, 2011

8. step 2:
defining the design approach to inform and raise
awareness
Thursday, November 3, 2011

9. embracing
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10. modeling “what it feels like”
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11. not preachy!
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12. depression
is about loss:
loss of meaning
loss of goals
loss of control
loss of agency
loss of playfulness
loss of sense of self
loss of focus
loss of energy
loss of voice
Thursday, November 3, 2011

13. games are about play
Thursday, November 3, 2011

14. play is a state of mind
expansiveness, freedom, joy!
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15. depression is the
opposite of play
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16. In order to make “loss” tangible, the game will also
model that which is lost.
It aims to show the contrast between
playfulness / agency and depression / loss of agency
and the transition between the two in an
experiential way.
Thursday, November 3, 2011

17. Step 3:
translating high level ideas into concrete
game structure
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18. game world =
emotional landscape
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19. objective: tap happiness
potential
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20. conflict: mood struggle
you want to get “up”, but antagonistic force
tries to bring you “down”
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21. normal = n
happy = h
structure: transition = t
depression = d
h h
n n
n n
t
t t
d
d d
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22. the importance of passion
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23. step 4: putting the flesh on the skeleton:
creative freedom, metaphors and
nuances of meaning
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24. struggling against “down” force, take I:
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25. struggling
against
a “down” force,
take II
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26. struggling against “down” force, take III
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27. Thursday, November 3, 2011

28. thanks! questions?
drusch1@cdm.depaul.edu
Thursday, November 3, 2011