Just in case you haven’t experienced itsempathetic embrace, Popcannibal’s BAFTA-winning Kind Words is less a game than the contemporary equivalent of a newspaper advice column – one in which you can assume both roles.
Sending an anonymous letter, you might choose to toss out a positive thought to the community, or put into words a concern you’ve struggled to share with those close to you. Alternatively, you can become an agony aunt, responding to the missives that reach you.
When Ziba Scott and Luigi Guatieri created this welcoming virtual space, it wasn’t only a response to the toxicity of many videogame communities. “It was a conscious reaction to toxic everything,” Scott tells us. “It was definitely kind of a ‘Fuck, Trump is awful’-type moment in our lives. Luigi is an immigrant to the US and a lot of my in-laws are also.