When choosing a game to play for this assignment, I wanted a game that I wasn’t familiar with and that was unique. I stumbled upon the description for Dys4ia, a game designed by Anna Anthropy, to share her experiences with gender dysphoria and hormonal replacement therapy. It is autobiographical game that shows the reality and struggles of gender transitioning.
The design of the game is very simple and highly pixelated. It reminded me of an older arcade game like “Space Invaders” with plenty of bright colors. The controls were also simple, using only the arrow keys (up,down,left,right) to move through the game. It played through a story, with timed transitions to the next plot point rather than playing on to other levels.
When I first opened the game, it introduced Anna as the creator and the purpose of the game. There was very little instruction on how to play, but it did identify needing to use arrow keys. Throughout the game, I moved the arrow keys to figure out what the story wanted me to do. For example, at the beginning, there is a series of Tetris pieces that have to be moved through barricades. It took me a few seconds to get the piece to fit, and once I did so, the game would flash to another story point. The next point might look like moving a person through a maze (doctor’s office waiting room), shaving a beard with a constantly moving razor, blocking hateful words by moving a shield that causes them to bounce off again, etc. There was not much room for the player to be creative or manipulate materials in their own way like a sandbox, but there was really no need since the main goal is to replicate a specific story. The game did not take long to play through either. I spent about five minutes playing and then replayed through it at a faster pace.
The game is extremely clever and powerful. The message within Dysphoria is very personal and gets the player thinking about Anna’s experiences. There are story points of the game that are inevitably frustrating to play, which adds to the feeling that perhaps Anna experienced frustration in her own story. In an educational context, this would be a great resource to use when discussing gender identity and inclusion. It is clear that Anna has lived through much, and sharing her story in an interactive way may make understanding the process of transitioning more tangible for those who identify as cisgender.
Educational Tech | Kate Brunn 
I love how you say you played the game through and then went back to play it again, but at a faster pace.
If you went back to play it, that means that it was fun and engaging and would capture the attention of students.
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The ability (or perhaps, the requirement) to go back and play a game may be a vital aspect of its successful use in the classroom. I could see the benefit of intentionally building lessons plans over different days and topics so that the students can clear the hurdle of any initial frustrations in playing the first time and so that they can derive meaning from the game in different contexts, while also learning to recognize the different perspectives and ideologies built into the game and its simulations.
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Kate! I absolutely loved the game choice you made! I think educating more people on this subject is incredibly important! I think this would be such an amazing social emotional lesson for middle students. I think this game is really meaningful and would love to see how an actual trans person feels it relates to their lives. I would love to see how you would like to incorporate this into your class, because I feel it’s something we are really undereducated about as a society. I would love to read more about how this game progresses and how you feel as it progresses.
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