Development Page 4 Justin
The game is comprised of many details that makes this game effectively therapeutic. The game uses pastel colors, where no colors is more vibrant than another. The character is also put into a sunny day with a clean work area and a cat with purring noises. The music is also a bit disarming in the way that it puts the player's mind at ease. These traits set the mood of the game which ultimately puts all the responsiblity on whether the player will be able to relate with the owner and the game's content. Daniel Hand in his book, "Role-Playing Games in Psychotherapy: A Practitioner’s Guide", believes that "[t]he efficacy of a therapeutic RPG fundamentally rests upon the phenomenon of parasocial relationships, whereby an individual... forms a percieved connection with another, even though that second party is entirely unaware of their existence. These unilateral attachments, like any other relationship, are founded upon the building blocks of empathy, transference, and projection; the only difference is that the relating party's imagination is required to fill in various blanks" (Hand). In other words, a game's success is reliant on individuals forming a one-sided, parasocial relationship with the characters in the game. These relationships are the foundation for making an empathetic character and contributes to the depth and personalization of the storyline/the author's message. In this case, the message of care, trust, and friendship is represented.
