Empathy for pixels

Intriguing quote in recent Escapist review of Multiwinia:

In some crucial ways, Multiwinia’s sound design establishes a stronger emotional connection with the on-screen carnage than some gory AAA first-person shooters. Perhaps simplicity breeds empathy, but in any case I felt more guilty sending mobs of rudimentary sprites into the teeth of rapid-fire gun turrets than I ever have realistically gibbing an opponent’s face with a flak cannon.

Are we supposed to feel empathy for casualties in FPS’s? And is sound design effective in Multiwinia because of novelty or because of something more primal than visuals?

One thought on “Empathy for pixels

  1. Interesting, I have never heard of Multiwinia until this post. I went to the website to check it out and now I’m intrigued. I checked out some screenshots and I’m excited for my download to finish so I can try it out.

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