As part of my research, I decided to play Sky: Children of the Light myself to see what a game designed with altruism in mind had to offer.

The design of Sky is definitely a bit vague. There are little too few words in the interface, mostly depending on imagery and animation to get ideas across. This is why my first 3-5 hours in the game, I wasn’t really sure what I was doing. It’s a stunning game visually, and that’s what mainly motivated me to keep playing.

During my first time in the Hidden Forest, a someone gifted me candles until we were able to chat. Unfortunately, I hadn’t figured out the phone keyboard connection at the time (I was playing on Switch) so the communication was really short and awkward.

Another player held my hand and lead me though the game for a good 10-15 minutes. It was quite nice, since I didn’t have to do anything and I enjoy passive gameplaying. I actually felt bad for leaving since I wanted to sleep, and I eventually had to “un hold” their hand.

3/6/2023

Still have not successfully made a good friend. But I noticed that when I witnessed other greyed out avatars playing,

Really felt like playing with other players during the Trials (especially water). I think it was a fear aspect.

3/7/2023

Now that I understand how items and candles work, I get why gift giving isn’t as common, or is truly an act of kindness.

You can only forge a certain number of candles each day, and to be friends with someone you must give them one or more of them, depending on what level you want your friendship to be in. I found myself reluctant to give players candles, when in the beginning I was giving them out left and right.

It makes me think how the game would be different if there were separate resources for making friends and buying items.

3/8/2023

Finally had another encounter with someone. This time we were trying to go through a door in Daylight Praire. Unfortunately though, I didn’t collect enough spirits and the game glitched out so I wasn’t able to follow them in after.

3/9/2023