Unraveling

Powerful…

This needs a bit of set-up, because it’s so unusual: a video game that makes you feel empathy.

Seems like most video games are about hurting people, winning battles, slaying enemies — all the typical macho testosterone-fueled stuff young guys like.

Then, at a gaming conference last year, something totally unexpected happened.

“…the authentic emotion this one game developer wore on his sleeve at the Electronic Arts event drew everyone’s attention, and then their applause, and then their Twitter effusions.”

Everything about this new game, and the developer, Martin Sahlin, now sharing it, was different.

I think we should try to do more than just entertain. Unravel was created in that spirit. It was born out of the need to make something more personal, something with a heart.”

” ‘You play as a little character made of yarn which unravels as you move. And the yarn represents love and the bonds that we make and it unravels because that’s what happens when we are separated from what we love,’ says Sahlin.”

This resonates throughout the game, as you move Yarny to find an old woman’s lost memories, see how he is changed by what happens to him. There is something at first whimsical, and then later sad, about a little man moving through the world alone and facing danger.

You can read the whole article HERE.

If you know me you know I believe you should strive for more than just non-offensive patter as well.

You should be striving for a more personal connection too, aiming each word at someone’s heart.

Because you can.

Because the medium you’re on makes it possible.

And the bonus is that, just as with this unusual video game, your more personalized, more emotional content will be just as stunning to listeners used to endless liners and boasts.

Take them someplace they didn’t expect to go today.

Take them inside your heart.