{"id":647,"date":"2013-11-13T10:12:48","date_gmt":"2013-11-13T15:12:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/?p=647"},"modified":"2014-03-12T11:42:11","modified_gmt":"2014-03-12T15:42:11","slug":"playing-the-accused-its-more-than-just-a-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2013\/11\/13\/playing-the-accused-its-more-than-just-a-game\/","title":{"rendered":"Playing \u201cThe Accused\u201d: It\u2019s More than Just a Game"},"content":{"rendered":"

Antidote Games<\/a>, a group that produces educational and entertaining simulations of \u201ccomplex realities,\u201d has teamed up with the Innocence Project<\/a> to create The Accused<\/a>, a game about investigative tactics and accusation. To get a better look at the game\u2019s educational possibilities, I decided to play.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The game begins with a simulated phone call from a police detective, summoning the player for questioning. The game fast-forwards to the police station, where the detective told me that I had been implicated in an assault. The game let me choose how to respond to each question. Dialogue bubbles from the investigators pile up and disappear quickly\u2014it scrolled so fast that I had trouble remembering and processing everything that was said. There are no back buttons.<\/p>\n

A witness had seen me nearby. The victim had money, I had student loans, and the detectives had a motive. They called me arrogant. They called me a psychopath. They said I\u2019d be \u201cmassacred\u201d in court.<\/p>\n

With the distance afforded by the computer, I was able to restrain my indignant, frantic impulses. I was able to act with a calm I most likely could never replicate in reality. I got a few seconds to think about my responses that I know were a luxury of the game. As the conversation with the detective went on, the logic became circular and the detective began to repeat his questions. The insults got repetitive. The evidence against me mounted on a sidebar. I really had to get back to work, but I didn\u2019t want to fail.<\/p>\n

Just about when my attention waned, I was relieved to see an exit button. When I hovered, ready to click out, \u201cEXIT\u201d changed to read \u201cCONFESS.\u201d<\/p>\n

But that didn\u2019t seem right. I wanted to stop the conversation, but I certainly didn\u2019t want to confess! Should I close the browser? The idea made me peculiarly sad, to have the option in virtual reality that no one would in real life.<\/p>\n

I confess\u2014I did it. No, not by closing the browser; I had enough respect for the law to follow procedure, hit the \u201cConfess\u201d button, give them the answers they were looking for. From what I could tell, it was the only way out.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

By being coerced into a confession, I joined the ranks of those profiled on the Innocence Project, and spent a few minutes looking at the happy faces of freed prisoners who were wrongfully incarcerated.\u00a0 I learned that the Innocence Project assists with DNA testing, and reality sunk in. The Innocence Project is undoing mistakes in the investigative process; it can\u2019t stop them from happening in the first place.<\/p>\n

The game offers a perspective of the law\u2014that of the accused\u2014that few lawyers will ever experience firsthand. Playing The Accused is a way to interact with the law from the perspective of the average citizen and see the Fifth Amendment play out in practice. More importantly, the eerie emotional dissonance cultivates a facet of legal education often overlooked: emotional intelligence. The game is a compelling and simple addition to ethics, professional responsibility, legal profession, prosecutorial discretion, evidence, and even constitutional law.<\/p>\n

Can you win The Accused? Can anyone? I wish I could tell you. I don\u2019t have any more information, but the investigation\u2019s already closed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Antidote Games, a group that produces educational and entertaining simulations of \u201ccomplex realities,\u201d has teamed up with the Innocence Project to create The Accused, a game about investigative tactics and accusation. To get a better look at the game\u2019s educational … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5482,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[88574],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-legal-news-and-debate"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4CR8M-ar","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":933,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2015\/03\/04\/new-mooc-blends-multimedia-case-studies-and-synchronous-online-participation\/","url_meta":{"origin":647,"position":0},"title":"New MOOC Blends Multimedia Case Studies and Synchronous Online Participation","author":"Elizabeth Moroney","date":"March 4, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"JuryX: Deliberations for Social Change By Amanda Reilly One of the central duties of the traditional institution of jury was to preserve popular conceptions of justice and evaluate the power of the government\u2014to determine the truth or falsity of factual allegations and to maintain impartiality. Yet over time, the institution\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Legal News and Debate"","block_context":{"text":"Legal News and Debate","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/category\/legal-news-and-debate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"juryx_608x211_0212","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2015\/03\/juryx_608x211_0212-500x173.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1215,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2017\/05\/15\/police-community-dialogue-the-harvard-negotiation-mediation-clinical-program-releases-innovative-resource-on-facilitation\/","url_meta":{"origin":647,"position":1},"title":"Police-Community Dialogue: The Harvard Negotiation & Mediation Clinical Program Releases Innovative Resource on Facilitation","author":"Lisa Brem","date":"May 15, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 The Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program has produced a new video resource on facilitation entitled\u00a0\"Police-Community Dialogue: A Facilitated Conversation Featuring Commentary with Harvard Law School Professor Robert C. Bordone\". The resource, which can be purchased on HLS Case Studies, features an unedited facilitated dialogue as well as retrospective\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/category\/harvard-negotiation-and-mediation-clinical-program-blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Bordone conversing with community members","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2017\/05\/police-community-dialogue-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2017\/05\/police-community-dialogue-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2017\/05\/police-community-dialogue-2.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2017\/05\/police-community-dialogue-2.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1034,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2015\/10\/13\/sexual-assault-on-campus-the-problem-and-the-policy\/","url_meta":{"origin":647,"position":2},"title":"Sexual Assault on Campus: The Problem and the Policy","author":"","date":"October 13, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Women have outnumbered men at U.S. colleges since the 1990s; unfortunately they also outnumber men in another unsettling statistic. An astonishing one in four undergraduate college women are sexually assaulted during their college career, as reported by the latest survey on sexual assault conducted at 27 university campuses, including Harvard\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":218,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2013\/02\/22\/negotiation-role-plays-available-on-the-case-studies-portal\/","url_meta":{"origin":647,"position":3},"title":"Negotiation Role Plays Available on The Case Studies Portal","author":"Lisa Brem","date":"February 22, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The Program on Negotiation (PON) at Harvard Law School, a community of negotiation scholars, educators, and staff from HLS, Tufts University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is one of the world's premier research and educational resources for negotiation theory and practice. 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However, recent features in the Wall Street Journal, the ABA Journal,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Legal News and Debate"","block_context":{"text":"Legal News and Debate","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/category\/legal-news-and-debate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2013\/12\/491648442_a52e4dfc22_z-500x375.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":462,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2013\/06\/25\/suffolk-law-launches-problem-solving-workshop\/","url_meta":{"origin":647,"position":5},"title":"Suffolk Law Launches Problem Solving Workshop","author":"Elizabeth Moroney","date":"June 25, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cI have no doubt in my mind that this will be the most memorable course I have taken,\u201d said Suffolk Law student Thomas Lessard on his last day attending the Problem Solving Workshop. At the beginning of this year, Suffolk Law adapted Harvard Law School\u2019s Problem Solving Workshop for its\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Problem Solving Workshop Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Problem Solving Workshop Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/category\/problem-solving-workshop-blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.law.suffolk.edu\/faculty\/images\/kvinson.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5482"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=647"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":653,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647\/revisions\/653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}