Hi everyone, I saw a really interesting article recently that I thought I would share. Recently the Northeastern University developed a video game called RePresent to assist individuals who choose to represent themselves in civil court cases, known as pro se litigants. They have said that the game is created to demystify the legal process, which can be overwhelming for those without legal training. The interesting thing about this game is that it essentially guides players through the entire journey of a court case, starting from the moment they learn they need to appear in court until the very end. It covers crucial steps like gathering evidence, filling out paperwork, and preparing for court appearances. The game begins with a dream sequence where the player is unprepared in court, highlighting the importance of preparation. As players make informed decisions, a confidence meter fills up, indicating their readiness. However, the game intentionally stops short of delivering a verdict to avoid giving false assurances about real-life outcomes.
This game was developed through a collaboration between game designers and legal experts at Northeastern’s NuLawLab, and has been tested with nearly a thousand users and is available on Android and iOS platforms. The developers plan to expand the game to cover various legal scenarios beyond small claims and eviction cases too which I found to be very interesting
Honestly, I think this is so cool and very smart. Going to court without a lawyer sounds terrifying, and most people don’t have thousands of dollars lying around for legal help, especially since access to justice is such a big, growing issue everywhere. Turning it into a game makes it way less intimidating, and actually teaches you real skills instead of just throwing legal jargon at you. I think it’s so interesting when technology and video games are used to actually make life a little fairer for people who need it most. I’m excited to see if they add more case types too like divorce, immigration, family law because it’s truly so encouraging to see such innovative approaches being developed to support those who might otherwise be overwhelmed by the legal system.
If you want to read more about this, I recommend reading: https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3643834.3661632 and https://news.northeastern.edu/2025/03/11/represent-game-casper-harteveld/.
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