Games for Harm and Remedy: Using Video Games to Promote Sex Worker Rights

Sex workers are often misrepresented in mainstream video games, reinforcing harmful stereotypes, marginalizing lived experiences, and creating associations with violence. This paper presents the design of two game prototypes that demonstrate how game design affordances can foster empathy and promote social change. The prototypes advocate for sex worker rights while challenging conventional portrayals. Though different in approach, both leverage the persuasive power of games: one engages players with the political history of sex work decriminalization in New Zealand, while the other cultivates human connections with non-player characters to encourage destigmatization. Both designs are grounded in Ruberg’s [19] feminist media analysis theory and employ distinct methodological approaches. The first game design applies Aristotelian rhetoric, and the second game uses empathy-focused design strategies. The design process also involved close collaboration with the Aotearoa New Zealand Sex Workers’ Collective (NZPC) to ensure accurate representation. The designers aim not only to challenge players’ conscious and unconscious biases but also to promote guidelines on how to create authentic representations of sex workers and their communities in future designs of video games.