Designing empathic agents : adults versus kids

An evaluation study using a trailer approach of a Virtual Learning Environment populated with animated characters focusing on physical bullying was carried out with three stakeholder groups, (children, teachers and experts) to examine their attitudes and empathic styles about the characters and storyline believability. Results from 127 children and 95 adults revealed that children expressed the most favourable views towards the characters and the highest levels of believability towards the bullying storyline. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of child-informant processes in leading the design of child-based systems and the use of animated cartoon characters alongside story-line narratives to incite engaging interactions.