MEET THE DEVELOPER
Choosing to Help
Choices: Stories You Play
Choose your drama story game
“Middle school was a pretty awful time for me,” says Oliver Miao, CEO of Pixelberry Studios. Whenever their Spanish teacher was late for class, another student would hold him over the trash can and put him in a choke hold, Miao recalls.
“I was always worried that one day he’d snap and squeeze too hard.”
Today, Miao leverages Pixelberry’s unique narrative-driven games to tackle bullying and other social issues, including eating disorders, sexuality, and diversity. It’s no exaggeration to say these games have changed the lives of many players.
We’ve had thousands of players reach out to us about how our games have made a difference.
The company’s biggest hit to date, Choices, is a choose-your-own-adventure-style cross between a game, a book, and a TV show. A team of 40-plus writers creates several stories in parallel, many with different themes, from romance to fantasy and everything in between. New Choices chapters come out every week.
The game has amassed a huge, dedicated fanbase of mostly female players, and Pixelberry doesn’t take them for granted. By listening to its fans and proving time and again that it isn’t tone-deaf to today’s hot topics, the developer has nurtured a thriving community.
A deep connection
About a month after Pixelberry launched one of its early titles, a player reached out via the in-game support system and said she was planning to kill herself.
“We didn’t know how to respond, so our COO and I called the suicide-prevention hotline for guidance,” Miao says. They were advised to encourage the player to reach out to a professional and provided her with numbers to call or text. “We told her we were there for her.”
After a week of communicating, the player said she was getting professional help, Miao says. “She also said it was because of our game that she was still here. It was an incredibly emotional moment for us.”
Those connections have only grown deeper. “We’ve had thousands of players reach out to us about how our games have made a difference in their lives,” he says. “Whether they’ve suffered from cyberbullying or eating disorders, they’ve been able to connect with nonprofits that are experts on helping people work through these difficult issues.”
Dedicated to help
The company, which was acquired by giant publisher Nexon earlier this year, has donated more than $350,000 to the Cybersmile Foundation, which seeks to stamp out online hate and bullying. Pixelberry has also teamed up with the National Eating Disorders Association to more accurately and sensitively represent these disorders in Choices.
“When I started out, I never thought about the impact that games, especially for mobile, could have,” says Miao. “But so many people have mobile devices that it’s opened up this incredible opportunity.
“I still get chills thinking about how our team can both do something we love and have such a strong impact.”