TBS, or “Terbeschikkingstelling”, is a punitive and rehabilitative measure in Dutch law imposed on criminals suffering from mental disorders. During their sentence, as part of their rehabilitation, patients undergo weekly therapy sessions with a therapist.
This project was a serious game prototype, created during my second year of university, with the purpose of supplementing TBS patients’ weekly therapy sessions.
The Midnight Parlour
The Midnight Parlour is a dating simulator, with the intention of teaching the player the values of restraint and the benefits of regulating their emotional reactions to different situations before reacting.
The target audience for this game is TBS patients with anger management issues. These patients are 95% male, aged 21 and above, and are currently serving a minimum of 4 years in prison. These patients often do not observe social situations adequately, can lack the ability to empathise with others, are more likely to perceive others’ actions as provocative, and often find it difficult to distinguish arousal from anger.
Aside from teaching players restraint, the game also records the players’ in-game reactions, as well as offering the player the ability to reflect on their experience in the form of an in-game diary, all of which can be viewed by the therapist during the patients’ weekly meetings.
How it works…
The player interacts with various non-playable characters via a dialogue system which allows the player to choose how they respond or react through different emotions. These options require the player to wait varying amounts of time before they become available, with irrational or emotional responses becoming available first before more calm and collected responses.
This mechanic is intended to encourage players to take time to think about their responses in real life, training them to stop and take time to think before reacting. These choices affect the outcome of the scene, with impulsive behaviour leading to undesirable endings and thoughtful behaviour resulting in positive outcomes.
