Can games change a player's interests and opinions? 'Persuasive gaming' designers believe they can, and have set their sights on encouraging proactive approaches to well-being and prosocial behaviour through the first ever master's degree course in persuasive gaming.

As the limitations and conventions of genre dissolve, That Dragon, Cancer is part of a fresh approach to gaming that recognises real empathy can only be felt through genuine experience – winning over an involved and profoundly committed audience.

In Brazil, there's much negative stigma attached to the country's indigenous tribes. In an attempt to rectify this, the Kaxinawá tribe has collaborated with game developers to create Huni Kui, a game that offers players an opportunity to understand the ways in which they live.

Studies show that our ability to empathise has greatly diminished over the last 30 years. It’s due in part to the uptake of smartphones and social media – we’re all too busy thinking about ourselves. But while it might be part of the problem, could technology also be used to make us more empathetic?