Abstract
1 in 2 people are diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime, and for those living with cancer loneliness and isolation are significant problems. This paper discusses the development of a virtual cancer support group, using the support group format to offer a companionship game to breast cancer patients. Seven characters populate this support group, designed as empathetic virtual agents. Interviews and playtests will assess the effectiveness of the design practice developed, and these learnings will be used to create a design framework for emotionally engaging and empathetic interactive characters.
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Bowman, A. (2019). Companionship Games: A Framework for Emotionally Engaging and Empathetic Interactive Characters. In: Cardona-Rivera, R., Sullivan, A., Young, R. (eds) Interactive Storytelling. ICIDS 2019. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 11869. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33894-7_44
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33894-7_44
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