Commodifying counselling
Eliza a visual novel with an eye on future of self-care
Eliza
Zachtronics
Available on Mac, PC, Nintendo Switch
According to Marketdata, the market for mindfulness products in the U.S. in 2017 topped $1 billion. The factors driving people to look for ways to stay grounded or “come to centre” is not hard to fathom.
Over the last several years the national conversation has been stirred by reports of economic uncertainty, environmental catastrophe, fractious politics and global disputes.
Eliza is an emotionally astute visual novel that imagines what the self-care industry might look like in the future. Similar to Neo Cab — one of this year’s finest games — it focuses on characters whose lives are altered by data.
Players assume the role of Evelyn Ishino-aubrey, a 34-yearold woman who begins working part-time as a human conduit for Eliza, an AI program. Developed by a small team at a big tech company, Skandha, Eliza is designed as a counselling service. The program listens and asks questions that are meant to help people recognize their problems and articulate what they want. At the close of most sessions it recommends programs (like breathing exercises or VR experiences) and medications, then steers people to a Skandha wellness app.
As a “proxy” for Eliza, Evelyn’s job is to sit in a room with a client — as a therapist would — and read Eliza’s responses from a virtual overlay that the client doesn’t see. Clients understand the proxies’ roles as Eliza’s mouthpieces. Before their first session they must agree to the company’s terms and conditions, which stipulate, “Eliza is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment” and that Skandha retains the right to retain data from the counselling sessions.
Eliza is good at figuring out people’s mental states and OK at asking simple questions to draw people out of themselves. The limitations are obvious to Evelyn. During one session, Eliza recommends an expensive drug to a client in financial straits.
What makes the game exceptional is that it takes seriously the novel aspects of the visual novel equation. Players are treated to a range of divergent viewpoints delivered by a cast of compelling characters.
Naturally there are skeptics who are worried about what Skandha might do with a trove of data built on people’s intimate disclosures, and others concerned with how it might be used by unauthorized parties in the event of a data breach. There are the true believers. And there are people with viewpoints that fall outside of a good or bad dichotomy.
When I finished with the game, I was satisfied with the muted ending that my decisions led me to; this is not a game of easy answers or neat moral resolutions. It’s a game about the compromises necessary to get by in the working world and problems that don’t come with pat solutions. Although I wished there were more dialogue choices and a bit more interactivity, listening to the characters converse with each other was captivating.
One doesn’t have to look hard to see how desperate people are to escape the human condition.