The main problem facing us was how to combine a computer game with a game that would respond to psychological needs in general and those of children of divorce in particular.  How would one overcome the difference between each game’s personal story and still provide an answer for both the shared and the different. One solution is the interface.

At the four sides of the screen there are icons. The two upper ones are crystal balls, one representing the mother and one the father. At the bottom right hand side of the screen there is an egg representing his room and inside the room there is a Quest Journal and a personal journal in which he can write.  At the left side of the screen there is a Chinese Take-Out Container where the player keeps all the possessions he finds along the way. In the bottom part of the screen there are options for different dialogues depending on the player’s choice.

The game interface is unique and does not exist in any other computer game.

As mentioned, the crystal balls are present on all the screens all the time.  They represent the presence of both parents at different experiential levels in the life of the player and hero.
They provide specific game hints as well as general parental statements of support:

“I’m so sorry you had to get involved in this.”
“Try doing it in a different way.”
“Don’t give up hope.”
“I know you can do it.”
“I have faith in you, Son. Now just have faith in yourself.”

The parents (crystal balls) sometimes state sentences like:

“Although you can’t reach me right now, I will be available sooner than you think.”
“Can we talk later?”
“Maybe your father is available.”
“You go on, and I’ll join you when I can.”
 
This in order to provide the experience of those days, months or years when the child does not see the non-custodial parent.
At this moment the child has the option to identify and/or get angry and choose to move to the journal, express his anger and unload his feelings.

After many divorces, the custodial parent is also less at home than before the separation and there are days when the parent (generally) is not with the child, so that the fact that the crystal balls are sometimes unavailable represents this reality.

If the player has a parent who has no contact with him, the statement creates a hope that this situation is temporary, and in no way a static situation.  Sometime they will meet, as reality proves that at some point in life chances are good that one of them will initiate contact.

We also took the single parent household into consideration because the absent parent exists in the child’s inner representation, if only at the level of lack, deprival, yearning, like a “black hole”, the existence of a representation of the parent on the screen constitutes a constant reminder. Therefore if he chooses, he can deal with it in the journal.

Continue reading “Part 5 - The Egg in the Interface”

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