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In this thesis I investigated empathy field in games and I explored how to create a game fostering empathy. In a first part I defined empathy, game and game mechanics and I analyzed four games fostering empathy through the prism of these definitions. I noticed these games used role-playing so then I focused my research on role-play games. In a second part I proposed an interactive story based on game mechanics fostering empathy. This interactive story is a mix of LARP and escape room. The player embodies a role and follows a goal. This game tries to foster empathy for the main character, a young woman who just found out that her mother had passed away. Through the iterations of testing I could improve the game and highlight some issues. Empathy is difficult to evaluate and puzzle solving prevents the player from being empathic. This thesis intends to contribute to the research areas in different ways. It outlines game mechanics fostering empathy and it suggests a new kind of game, the interactive story using these game mechanics.

The Drought is a collection of six stories set mostly in South Florida. Each story focuses on a young man or young men as they enter the world. Overall, there are many themes at play across the collection, with the most notable being overcoming anxiety, coming of age, and life as a middle-class millennial. The young men in these stories are being ushered into the real world, and they must learn quickly in order to adapt, and in some cases, survive. The collection also showcases the range of the middle class, and how different a person's story can be when comparing the lower middle to the upper middle. In the title story, "The Drought," a boy with a dying mother must decide if he's going to become a drug kingpin to make the money he needs to care for his little brother. In "What's the Jwett?" three friends decide if they want to get into the local weed trade. In "Turbulence," an up-and-coming DJ learns about the importance of patience and developing one's craft. The Drought is a snapshot of life as a youth in South Florida.

Yes / Film-making is an effective way of engaging people with dementia and improving their well-being. Andrea Capstick and colleagues explain how ‘participatory video’ gave one group an opportunity to tell their own story in film.

Please note: creative writing theses are permanently embargoed in OpenBU. No public access is forecasted for these. To request private access, please click on the locked Download file link and fill out the appropriate web form. / A collection of short stories / 2999-01-01T00:00:00Z

Research problem - This research revolves around the problem: Which characteristic/repetitive pattern formations can be identified in the structure and general content of selected Afrikaans Jakkals en Wolf (Jackal and Wolf) trickster stories. Research aims - Originating from the problem, the primary aim of this research is to identify the structural and content related patterning in the telling of Afrikaans Jackal and Wolf stories in general as well of those particular to the trickster tale/story. The secondary aim of the research is to identify the localisation relating to general content and structure within stories. Research methodology - The structural elements, structural patterns, variation patterns and content were investigated. In order to theorise these patterns, it was necessary to analyse the stories syntagmatically and paradigmatically. For the former, particularly Bremond‟s (1977) action logic was utilised to analyse the action in the stories. The actantial model of Greimas (1966) was used for the paradigmatic analysis of stories and methods of story telling. Existing structural models of the folk tale, oral story, trickster tales and Jakkals en Wolf were also used in the analysis. Examples from the corpus of stories were used to illustrate and substantiate findings. The corpus consists in short out of sound recordings recorded by a project team lead by Du Plessis (1987:8-14), recordings which was done by the researcher in the Murraysburg district in June 2010; Jakkals-en-Wolfstories, told by Dana Niehaus (Niehaus, 2011) as well as stories out of the volumes Die Kaskenades van Jakkals en Wolf (Rousseau, 2011), Die mooiste Afrikaanse sprokies (Grobbelaar en Verster, 2007) and Jakkals en Wolf (Grobbelaar en Verster, 2011). Findings - It was found that unique patterning formations could be identified by the analysis of the corpus Afrikaans oral Jakkals en Wolf trickster tales represent in this study, and that both Bremond‟s action logic and Greimas‟s actantial model add value to describing structure in stories. A consequence of this is that greater appreciation is created in the analyses of stories. / MA (Afrikaans and Dutch), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Research problem - This research revolves around the problem: Which characteristic/repetitive pattern formations can be identified in the structure and general content of selected Afrikaans Jakkals en Wolf (Jackal and Wolf) trickster stories. Research aims - Originating from the problem, the primary aim of this research is to identify the structural and content related patterning in the telling of Afrikaans Jackal and Wolf stories in general as well of those particular to the trickster tale/story. The secondary aim of the research is to identify the localisation relating to general content and structure within stories. Research methodology - The structural elements, structural patterns, variation patterns and content were investigated. In order to theorise these patterns, it was necessary to analyse the stories syntagmatically and paradigmatically. For the former, particularly Bremond‟s (1977) action logic was utilised to analyse the action in the stories. The actantial model of Greimas (1966) was used for the paradigmatic analysis of stories and methods of story telling. Existing structural models of the folk tale, oral story, trickster tales and Jakkals en Wolf were also used in the analysis. Examples from the corpus of stories were used to illustrate and substantiate findings. The corpus consists in short out of sound recordings recorded by a project team lead by Du Plessis (1987:8-14), recordings which was done by the researcher in the Murraysburg district in June 2010; Jakkals-en-Wolfstories, told by Dana Niehaus (Niehaus, 2011) as well as stories out of the volumes Die Kaskenades van Jakkals en Wolf (Rousseau, 2011), Die mooiste Afrikaanse sprokies (Grobbelaar en Verster, 2007) and Jakkals en Wolf (Grobbelaar en Verster, 2011). Findings - It was found that unique patterning formations could be identified by the analysis of the corpus Afrikaans oral Jakkals en Wolf trickster tales represent in this study, and that both Bremond‟s action logic and Greimas‟s actantial model add value to describing structure in stories. A consequence of this is that greater appreciation is created in the analyses of stories. / MA (Afrikaans and Dutch), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Numerous studies have shown that children identified with Language Impairment (LI) have marked difficulty with producing story narratives compared to their typically developing peers. One particular area of weakness seen in the narratives of children with LI is their ability to incorporate internal states, specifically internal response, internal plan, and emotion words. The current study examines five children with LI and their descriptions of mental and emotional states of characters in story narratives under spontaneous and prompted conditions. Participants produced story retells based on a series of wordless picture books taken from the Edmonton Narrative Norms Instrument. Story retells were elicited twice for each story, once with and once without verbal prompts. As expected, children produced more internal state story elements in response to prompts. As children produced more of these elements, however, their accuracy decreased, and the states they reported did not always reflect the story content. The children with LI showed limited understanding and ability to interpret the reactions, motivations, and emotions that characters experienced. However, verbal prompts did reveal children's current abilities and understanding of internal states.

Narrative production and comprehension is a difficult task for children with language impairment (LI). Their stories are typically shorter and contain more grammatical errors than the stories of typically developing age-matched peers. This pilot study describes the abilities of six children with LI to produce stories from pictured stimuli. Stories were elicited from each child during a 10-week period. Stimulus pictures and coding procedures from the Edmonton Narrative Norms Instrument were employed to analyze the participants' story grammar (SG). Eight SG elements were assessed including character introduction, setting, initiating event (IE), internal response (IR), internal plan (IP), attempt, and outcome. The children varied highly in their production of SG elements. The SG elements that described the internal states, emotions, and motivations of the characters were the most difficult for all participants.

Many children identified with Language Impairment (LI) demonstrate difficulty comprehending and producing narratives. Their narratives are often structurally less complex and of overall poorer quality than those produced by their typically developing peers. These difficulties may negatively impact the academic and social success of children with LI. This thesis evaluates the performance of five school-aged children with LI on a story retell probe embedded within an intervention designed to address their social and emotional language abilities. During the 10-week intervention, participants completed a series of story retell probes using wordless picture books. The story stimuli were taken from the Edmonton Narrative Norms Instrument, which included six stories (divided into two story sets), elicited twice (12 total story retells). The production of story grammar (SG) categories was analyzed for each story retell. The results for each participant and SG category varied greatly, but all participants had difficulty producing the more complex SG elements. Although each participant demonstrated some improvement from the first retell to the second on at least one story, overall performance remained fairly stable over the 10-week period. Future research is needed to determine effective ways to support more complex story narratives in children with LI.