“You are never too small to make a difference.”

These are the words of Greta Thunberg, the 16-years-old Swedish climate activist who started to go on school strike in August 2018 as a means of protest against the inaction of international decision-makers with regard to the climate crisis which is ahead of us. With her school strikes, she inspired hundreds of thousands of people around the world to raise their voices and come out into the streets every Friday, demanding more radical and consequent climate policies. The climaxes of the yet young Fridays for Future movement was reached on March 15 and May 24, 2019, when 1.6 and 1.5 million people, respectively, on all seven continents and in more than 125 countries followed the example of Greta, sending a powerful message about the significance and urgency of acknowledging and acting in accordance with scientific findings about climate change.

The Fridays for Future movement consists mainly of young people, school children and students, who are deciding not to attend classes and instead take part in demonstrations, demanding action to prevent further global warming and climate change. The main point of criticism towards the movement is the scheduling of the protest on Friday mornings – during school time – when children are required to attend school. However, with the advancing climate destruction, they point out that the purpose of going to school begins to lose its sense, and ask: Why study for a future, which may not be there? Why spend a lot of effort to become educated, when our governments are not listening to those educated? In fact, the first and foremost demand put forward by Fridays for Future is to implement climate policies which have already been proposed by the educated, namely thousands of climate scientists and researchers. This includes fast and broad measures in accordance with the 1.5°C goal and global climate justice, as aspired in the Paris Agreement, which was adopted in 2015 at the Conference of the Parties (COP) 21 by 196 countries worldwide. The COP is an annual conference serving as the decision-making body in charge of monitoring and reviewing the implementation of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Despite the milestone proved by COP21 in Paris, experts and scientists, now supported by the voices of youth, criticize the lack of effectiveness and missing binding enforcement mechanisms in the agreement, asking for a more specific definition of the Paris climate target.

But how are international negotiations on climate policies and measures for limiting global warming actually working? What are the considerations and challenges for individual countries in taking climate action, facilitating or inhibiting joint progress? To give young people a better understanding of climate action and policies, the international network CliMates co-designed and prepared a workshop, called COP in my school, which gives students the chance to take over the roles of decision makers. In the workshop, after a short introduction to the topic, a UN climate conference is simulated, with a subsequent discussion of the results and possibilities for action. We had the chance to interview Katharina Doppelbauer, a member of the Austrian CliMates group, and ask her about the specifics of the workshop.

Katharina, what and who is CliMates?

CliMates is an international network concerned with climate change. We are students and young professionals who want to take on the challenge to change the climate by developing new and innovative ideas, helping people be change-makers and by influencing decision makers.

What are the main activities and objectives of the network?

Our main activities can be divided into two branches which are advocacy and empowerment. Advocacy is concerned with politics; there are different projects that analyze the outcomes of international climate negotiations or send young people to climate negotiations to give the youth a voice to represent themselves. And those are just two examples, there is so much more to discover…

Empowerment, on the other hand, focuses on teaching those who do not know how politics on climate change work yet, how important action is in this domain and how climate change is affecting us all. We try to spread the word because knowledge is the first step to change.

Could you briefly describe what COP in my school is about?

COP in my school is a simulation in which we can experience how politics work when focusing on climate change. Divided into groups, the participants can represent different countries that take part in international climate negotiations. While pursuing their individual priorities, they are, at the same time, trying to find a solution to succeed in obtaining the 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement.

How did you get the idea of offering a workshop about the Paris Agreement and climate politics?

We wanted to build a bridge between the UN Climate Change Conference and the youth and help them understand how democracy works. The Conference of the Parties is a very good way to do so because it is a topic that concerns all of us and young people can actually have a say, as COPs do allow representatives of the youth to speak on their behalf. Climate change often makes people feel helpless and we want to help them gain consciousness and find their voice.

Why did you choose a social simulation as a medium to talk about these aspects?

We chose this medium because usually when talking about climate change, we only learn what it is and not how it is dealt with. Many people don’t even know that international climate negotiations exist. Simulations also provide a certain reality which really helps the participants to grasp the problems we are facing.

Who is the main target of the workshop? Is it targeted at specific age groups? If yes, why?

We usually recommend the workshop for children at the age of 15 or 16, because by that time they have already learned about climate change and our impact on it in school, which is very helpful in our workshop. However, it can be applied to any older age groups as well.

Are there any skills needed to participate in the workshop? If yes, which?

There are no skills needed, however, it would be preferable if the participants already knew about climate change, as that is the foundation for negotiating about the political possibilities in this domain.

What are the most important lessons that can be learned from playing COP in my school?

The participants gain a lot of general knowledge on how politics work regarding climate change, but what’s maybe even more important, is that they learn how difficult it can be to come to an agreement – even if everybody is working towards the same goal. It also makes the participants see where we are currently at, how much there is to be done and how each and everyone plays a part on our way to a healthy environment.

Do you think the workshop could be also conducted to develop new skills in players?

Of course! As every group has to work on their results and choose a representative who has to negotiate with the other participants, it provides a safe space to test oneself and get a feeling of how to act in a discussion and how to produce an argument to make a point.
Considering that not everyone already has this sense of accountability for their own actions, we feel that this workshop helps to reflect on this and recognize your role in protecting the climate.

What sustainability and educational goals can be achieved by doing the workshop?

The participants get a better understanding of how politics work because they are the ones who act. Such first-hand experience is alway a great learning opportunity. They also get an overview of what has happened in politics ever since we understood that protecting the climate is important. Last but not least, they start understanding how much of a difference just one person can actually make.

What psychological and social processes may happen in and between players while participating in COP in my school?

We have noticed a very strong sense of social cohesion in the different groups representing a country. Due to the fact that we only address the representatives with the name of their country – just as they do at the real Conference of the Parties – the participants suddenly feel like they are part of this country. Thus, they view its beliefs and priorities as their own and strongly represent them even if they are in no way their actual personal opinion. Generally, there is a shift in the behavior of everyone taking part, and as soon as the negotiating begins, they act like they are in a public setting and start mimicking politicians in their speech or body language. In the end, we, therefore, give them a bit of time to slip out of their roles as politicians to be themselves again and try to reflect on it.

In which settings has the workshop been conducted? What results did you observe?

We usually conduct the workshop in schools where we work with very different students. Most of them did know about climate change but did not know how much of a difference just one change in their own lives could make. So, we do see how the class goes from “mostly not that interested” to a stage where almost everyone wants to do and change something, which is incredibly beautiful to witness.
We have also conducted COP in my school at a Local Conference of Youth in Vienna, where lots of students from schools and universities came together to learn more about the topic and meet like-minded people to exchange experiences and ideas.

Did your work with COP in my school change your perspective on climate politics and related topics? If yes, how?

It completely changed my mind: At first, I didn’t know a lot about political action on climate change and it made me see where we are on this journey, what I can do and how I want to do more. I always knew that climate change is an important matter, but I have only grasped the urgency of it when working on COP in my school – I am glad that I did! This is a matter that’s very close to my heart and I’m really happy that I finally found a way for me to act and I hope to help many more to find theirs.

Are you interested in COP in my school? Contact hello@climatesaustria.org!

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In 2018, the United Nations Higher Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) reported that we were “[…] witnessing the highest levels of displacement on record”: 68,5 million people worldwide have been forced from home. Among them are nearly 25.4 million refugees, 6.3 million alone from Syria. Many of them seek asylum in countries in their region, such as Turkey or Lebanon. Others try to reach Europe, in particular Germany, which is the main European destination for refugees. Their migration stories are all similar, only details are different. One inspirational story was taken up and integrated into a game to put players in the shoes of a refugee: Bury me, my Love. We had a chance to talk with the creative directors and designers of the game: French video games production studio The Pixel Hunt, founded in 2009 by the former journalist Florent Maurin. The studio team imagines and creates reality-inspired games. They work for clients such as public broadcasters or TV production companies, but also have independent projects. Bury me, my Love was the first full-scale independent game of the studio, co-produced with Figs and ARTE France. Designed for mobile phones, it became immediately popular and was nominated for more than 20 awards, including the Game Awards, the GDC Awards, the BAFTA Game Awards, and the IndieCade Europe. In 2017, the game won the Google Play Indie Games Contest, making it the best European game in the store for the year. The Pixel Hunt’s founder Florent Maurin told us about the background ideas, development and learnings of the reality-inspired interactive fiction.

Florent, could you briefly describe what the game is about?

Bury me, my Love tells the story of a Syrian couple, Nour and Majd. They are separated, as Nour decides to leave her country and tries to reach Europe for a safer life, but Majd has to remain and take care of older relatives. The only way they can communicate is through a chat application on their smartphones. As a player, you witness those conversations and try to help Majd provide Nour with the best possible advice and support.

How did you get inspired to create a game about refugees and their migration?

As a former journalist, I’m used to paying a lot of attention to the news. In 2015, I read an article on French newspaper Le Monde that struck me. It was called “The Journey of a Syrian migrant as told by her WhatsApp conversations“, and it was a series of discussions between a girl named Dana, who tries to reach Europe, and her family both in Damascus and Germany. This was such a strong piece that I contacted the journalist, and through her, I got in touch with Dana. Both women agreed to become our editorial consultants and help us make a game inspired by these stories – and thousands of others. That’s how BmmL was born!

Why and how, in your opinion, can a mobile game serve as a medium to talk about these topics?

In our particular case, the use of the mobile phone is part of the game’s message, as it mimics the way migrants, in real life, use their smartphones. Most migrants nowadays have a phone, and for them, it’s not a luxury; it’s the only way they have to keep in touch with their friends and families and to get crucial information during their dangerous journey.

How did you come up with the characters in the game?

Nour is vastly inspired by Dana, a very brave woman. Majed is more of free creation, for the sake of having a second character that would work well with Nour.

How did you get involved in the Google Play Indie Games Contest? What did winning the contest mean to you?

I had seen on social networks that there was such a contest one year before entering with Bury me, my Love. It was, of course, a great honor to be selected among so many great games, and a joy to see that a committee of seasoned professionals thought that Bury me, my Love was an interesting enough to be celebrated as a winner.

Who is the main target of the game? Is it targeted at specific age groups? If yes, why?

It isn’t, really – or at least we did not think about it that way. We were moved by Dana’s story and lots of other articles and documentaries, and we thought it could be interesting to tell them in the form of a video game. But from the testimonies we gathered, from comments on social media, and through game ratings, we know that we are reaching quite a wide audience, from people who are strong human rights supporters to people who are rather hostile to migrants but experience the game as a good way to learn more about a situation they, in fact, know next to nothing about.

What can be learned from playing Bury Me, My Love? What would you like players to learn from it or experience through it?

You’ll have to ask the players! We are not an NGO, we did not create this game with an agenda in mind or with the will to change players. Don’t get me wrong: if that happens, fine. But I believe people only change by themselves, through life experiences and exposure to different cultures than their own. You can’t make someone change their mind, especially on such a topic as international migrations. So our main objective was to tell stories we were moved by and to use video games and fiction as forms to convey those stories.

Do you think the game could be also used to develop new skills in players?

Mmm… Not sure? I would say BmmL probably is an exercise in empathy, but I’m not sure empathy is something you can learn, really. So if by “develop” you mean “grow”, then sure, but if you mean “acquire”, then I’d probably be more skeptical.

What could happen in players while playing Bury Me, My Love, psychologically speaking?

Lots of players reported that they felt the stress of not having news from someone they cared about, and they waited anxiously for their phone to beep with a new notification. There’s also a couple ends that are pretty grim for Nour, and those made a lot of players cry. But I hope they also laughed, and hoped, and felt proud and brave because BmmL first and foremost is a story about love and human relationships – and those feelings are all part of it.

Did your work on the game influence or even change your perspective on refugees and migration? If yes, how?

Well, it’s more the other way around. When I read the article on Le Monde, I was surprised to realize that, contrary to what I thought, Dana was talking to her relatives pretty much in the same way I was talking to mine. Without me realizing it, I had been influenced by the general media coverage of the situation into believing that migrants were different from me. Realizing that hit me hard – it made me feel that I was being xenophobic without even being conscious of it. And I thought that making a game on this specific topic might help other people come up with a similar epiphany.

When creating a game, what elements are most important to include for you?

In my specific case, it’s inspiration from reality, real-life events, psychology, characters… I think the reality is a huge source of inspiration, that has been completely underrepresented in games up until now.

What challenges do you face when designing games? What was the main challenge in designing Bury Me, My Love?

Well, for us, the main challenge was to stay as truthful to the actual experience and believable as possible – especially because we did not experience it first hand. So we took extra care gathering a lot of documentation and asking Dana for a lot of feedback. But even with that, it’s a tight line to walk, and you can’t afford to screw up on this.

If you had to choose one game to take on a lonely island, which would it be?

Wow, it’s a tough one! I’d say Grim Fandango, as it’s my favorite game ever, but in this specific situation, I’m concerned by its low replay value. So I’ll go with my second or third loves, Football Manager and Civilization.

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Many reports state the importance of education for employment and growth in general, for example, its impact on Gross Domestic Product growth or on private returns (individual wages/income). So why not combine both goals in a playful experience for students to learn about economic aspects? The experimental kit with business games Ökonopoly does exactly that. It was developed by the German association ALWIS Saarland (ArbeitLebenWirtschaftSchule – WorkLifeEconomySchool), which was founded in 2003 to foster the interconnection between schools and the economy. It supports students in choosing a career by organizing job information days, Girls’ and Boys’ Days, summer camps with workshops and games, and many more. We had the unique opportunity to interview Sabine Lauer, the Managing Chairman at ALWIS, and talk with her about Ökonopoly and how it can be used in educational settings.

Sabine, could you briefly describe what Ökonopoly is and how it works?

Ökonopoly is a game box available in German. The collection offers five economic experiments or games which can be ca   rried out in class with students: Firstly, there is the Market Experiment, which is about price setting with regard to supply and demand. Next, we have an experiment called “Team Player or Free Rider,” which looks at the usability of public goods. The third experiment in the box deals with the exchange in an economy, based on the division of labor, and the fourth is about matching processes in job seeking. Lastly, there is an experiment about the trade between two nations. The Ökonopoly game box contains the necessary materials, the instructions for the experiments, and ideas for combining interesting learning topics. There are different variants and tasks for students of intermediate (middle school and high school), which can be selected depending on the application.

How did your team get the idea of creating a game to teach students about economic topics?

Our association ALWIS aims to provide schools with additional materials, projects, and events about business knowledge, career orientation and furthering the interest for STEM subjects. As practical exercises are particularly important to us, we use games and experiments to offer playful learning.

What do you think are advantages of game-based learning?

Games are fun. And learning with fun is easier. Plus, the students can experience concrete examples and try out how the economy works. Games have a stronger impact than verbal and frontal teaching.

What was the main challenge in designing Ökonopoly?

There were quite a few challenges to overcome: The content of the experiments was developed at universities and had to be adapted to the students’ levels. The compilation of documents and presentations for a simple and modern implementation in class was essential. And last but not least, the wooden box had to be produced and equipped.

Are there any specific skills required to play the games?

No, there are no special requirements. In each game, even simple economic terms are suitably explained for the age group.

What are the most important lessons that can be learned from participating in the experiments?

It is not possible to put the importance of one learning content against another. They include questions from pure economic content, environmental issues, and social aspects to ethical values. Perhaps the most important lesson is to realize that there is a connection between all of that in economic processes.

How flexible is Ökonopoly regarding its application in different settings? Can others apply the games in their educational work, too?

Yes, because of their diverse content-related key aspects, the experiments can also be used in other subjects apart from economics. Particularly in politics and geography, but also in ethics and philosophy, and partly in mathematics.

Did your work on Ökonopoly influence your knowledge about economic topics?

Of course, it did. We always learn when we work on something extensively. For example, it still fascinates me to see how, after several rounds of playing, an equilibrium price is settling in the Market Experiment, or how much a single person can change the result of “Team Player or Free Rider”.

If you had to choose one favorite experiment out of the five to recommend, which would it be?

Within the Ökonopoly game box, I particularly like the Market Experiment. It is very simple and illustrates well how a completely chaotic market gets organized by itself. Additionally, the experiment allows for learning content ranging from the diversity of people operating in the market with different preferences to the profitability curve.

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The report also calls for urgent action, as the limit of 1.5°C will be reached as early as 2030, considering the current levels of commitment to mitigating climate change. Limiting global warming levels would require unprecedented changes in all aspects of society, and they would need to be implemented very rapidly and at a large-scale. From 2016 to 2035, the world would need to invest an average of around US$2.4 trillion for the transition of the industrial, energy, agricultural, residential and transport sectors, representing about 2.5% of the global GDP. Valerie Masson-Delmotte, Co-Chair of Working Group I, said on this topic, “The good news is that some of the kinds of actions that would be needed to limit global warming to 1.5°C are already underway around the world, but they would need to accelerate.”

So how can we accelerate the mitigation of climate change and enhance the levels of commitment to participate in the mission to basically save the world? As you can guess, there is no straightforward solution. Approaching this challenge requires an understanding of the complexity and interconnectedness of the various factors related to climate change, including social, technological and economic ones. We had a unique opportunity to interview Claude Garcia, who is a member of an association of researchers and scholars who design, analyze, develop, and promote scientific research and its applications to understand complex systems: ComMod. For this purpose, they use an approach which they call Companion Modelling. It includes methods and tools such as role-playing games, multi-agents modeling, and social simulations.

Claude, what is “Companion Modelling” and how does it connect to sustainable development?

Companion Modelling is a method to support collective decision making for natural resources management. What we “do” at ComMod is helping stakeholders describe the system they work with. They identify the different components of the system they manage; what they know and what they do not know. They incorporate in this description what others know. This description becomes a model of the system – hence modelling – and this model can be used to explore, explain, negotiate and agree. ComMod assists stakeholders through all the steps, from problem framing to implementation and monitoring – hence companion.

What are main objectives of the ComMod network?

The ComMod association was created to promote the method, and also to share experiences and learn from each other. If we incorporate scientific results in the models, and systematically document the processes we are involved with, there is an element of personal skill – how to conduct constructive meetings, how to foster engagement and participation, how to construct models that are effective and elegant, these elements require that we continuously improve. ComMod is a network of people that believe that better decision making rests on the capacity to listen to and to integrate different perspectives in the decision-making process.

In which topics do the models you develop immerse? Could you give some examples?

The founders of the ComMod approach were working on natural resources management in Europe, particularly in France, and in the tropics. The first case studies were on irrigation management in West Africa. More recently, some of us have tried to scale-up the models. With my colleagues, we have described the Oil Palm supply chain in Cameroon, to help stakeholders understand the root causes of the low productivity of the country, and explore alternative strategies. We have created a model to explore the interactions between logging, mining, and development in the Congo Basin, to help negotiate offsetting schemes and management plans that are valid across countries. We have a model that describes the links between what happens in the trading places of Europe and China, the Brazil domestic market, and the deforestation in Amazon and Brazil. There is nothing that ties our approach to a local scale, to a village, to a valley. We are realizing that it is possible to be bottom-up at the larger scales too.

Let’s take a closer look at one of the models: ReHab. Could you briefly describe what the game is about?

ReHab is the best way I know to help people realize problems of natural resource management are actually problems of managing people about the resources, not the other way round. ReHab stands for Resource / Habitat. Nothing to do with drugs. But it hooks you! In a game of ReHab, participants are either villagers that need to secure their livelihood by harvesting biomass from a landscape or park managers that need to ensure a migratory bird successfully reproduces in the same landscape. All have a minimal prior knowledge of the ecology of the system, and they need to figure out how it works and what to do, under time pressure. A game typically lasts one hour, and we generally invite people to play two sessions – with different scenarios. The first game ends generally quite bad for all players, and then the challenge is to do better in the second one. And after the game, we debrief. This is probably the more important part. Without debriefing, ReHab, as any of our models, would just be a game. Funny, engaging, amusing for a while, but ultimately futile. Through the discussion that follows, participants draw insights on what is collective action, why it is difficult, why trust and good communication matter, what the origins of knowledge are, and how to cope with uncertainty and free riders. The combination of the game and the emotions it conveys, and the insights gained afterwards is very powerful. I still remember when I played it for the first time, and that is 11 years now.

What was the idea behind creating the game? Which issue or issues did you and your team want to address with it?

It begins as a classic “Tragedy of the Commons” thing. You have a limited landscape, the resource will grow if you give it space, and there is enough for everybody’s needs but not for anybody’s greed, as the saying goes. So the players can wisen-up, develop a community management scheme and problem solved. Except the designers introduced an additional layer. There is an additional actor, the park manager, with different objectives, different means, and different knowledge. This creates a completely new situation with asymmetries to identify and address. In a prisoner’s dilemma, or the tragedy of the commons, all players are identical, and only their actions differ. Here, there are differences that create the tension but are also the key to creating win-win solutions. The problem is that I could speak for hours of Rehab, and you would still miss the most important thing: it is an experience. You need to play, to experience the confusion, the frustration, the joy, the anger, the satisfaction.

Is that why you and your team chose a role-playing approach to the game?

We all know why we face the problems we face. We know where the source of climate change lies. We know why biodiversity is being lost. We know these things. Yet, that does not move us to change habits. Knowing something is different from being aware of something – and I struggle here to find the right words. What I describe is akin to being conscious of something, and this experience of consciousness is notoriously difficult to explain, and impossible so far to measure. I cannot convey to you what it feels like being a farmer in Cameroon who struggles to feed his family and provide an education to his kids, while migrants settle in his village and request access to land. I can tell you their story. I could shoot a movie I guess. Instead, I invite you to play. It will not be the real thing, but it is the next best thing. Fight to make ends meet at end of the turn, negotiate with your neighbor, argue with the moneylender, see in dismay how your painstakingly created cocoa plantation is overrun by the players from the other village or watch you crop go waste because you could not rent the truck in time to go to the market. After the game, you will understand the farmer and his decisions.

Is there a main target group of the game? If yes, who and why?

It differs with every game. Often we design the games to address a specific issue, and the target is, therefore, the stakeholders affected by this issue. It is possible to distinguish three different target groups.

1. The first ones are the people that know the system, either because they live in it or because they have studied it. They are the ones that build the model with us.
2. The second group is the people that take decisions about that system. It could be the farmers themselves if we are on a local decision level. Or it could be CEO and Ministers in the capital. They are invited to play the game, rather than design it. And through the play, they will understand it better and then design better policies.
3. Finally, the third group is made up of everybody who wants to understand that system better. We can always use the model to then teach others about that particular issue.

We addressed these three groups with our work in the OPAL project, with the CoPalCam game. We designed it with the oil palm producers in Cameroon and then used it with the Interministerial Committee for the Regulation of the Oil Palm Sector in that country. And now, we bring it to the classrooms in French and Swiss high schools to teach high school students what is sustainable development and how to achieve it – with the example of the oil palm production in Cameroon.

ReHab is different because it is more generic. As such, there is no more group 1 or 2. But everybody interested in natural resources management can benefit from it, so group 3 is really all of us, irrespective of our level of education and background.

Are there any specific skills needed to play ReHab?

No. You do not even need to know how to read or write. We have designed versions where you play with your body – physically collecting the resources in the game board. We actually make it a point not to explain everything before we start playing. The impression of feeling blindfolded and the need to discover things by yourself are part of the experience.

What are the most important lessons that players learn from playing the game? Which skills may they develop?

They learn it is not enough to bring people to the table to solve a problem. They learn that a bad negotiation can be worse than no communication at all. This already is an eye-opener. They learn collective action is costly and difficult, but that these costs need to be paid to achieve win-win solutions. They learn about the differences between listening and talking. They learn that knowing everything about a system is not a prerequisite for effective action, and that building trust and agreement with stakeholders is the first step to develop adaptive management. They learn so many things! They see the value of data and information, they see why monitoring matters and why enforcement is a necessity. They learn to share their knowledge and recognize the limits of what they don’t know. But maybe, more importantly, they learn to take responsibility. If they fail, they cannot blame it on anybody else.

Which sustainability goals can be achieved by using ReHab?

In essence, the outcomes of a ReHab session can be read in two dimensions. One is the number of birds that reproduced in the landscape. It is a measure of conservation success. The second one is the amount of biomass harvested. It is a measure of development success. The core of the game resolves about how will the players achieve these two. Will one side win over the other, in a win-lose scenario, or will they manage to find innovative solutions – the mythic win-win outcome. Unless they go down in conflict and end in a lose-lose scenario. And then we analyze the sessions and draw lessons. So, per se, a game session will not achieve anything directly. But the people will have changed through the process and they will see things differently and do things differently afterwards – and that is the goal we seek to achieve. Changing people’s’ mind.

What psychological and social processes may happen in and between players?

I already mentioned the emotions one feels when playing. They are both positive and negative. Joy, triumph, frustration, anger, arousal, confusion, satisfaction, players reports having experienced all of these. The social interactions are also varied. Alliances are formed and broken, trust is created and lost, authority is vested and removed, leadership emerges and dissolves. Peer pressure, collective action, the emergence of tenure rights, trials, and investigations, conflicts, and agreements, free-riding and solidarity, are only some of the processes that can happen in the two hours that the game lasts. I never tire of watching a game unfold.

In which settings has ReHab been played? Which results could be observed?

We have played ReHab in a variety of settings. We bring the game to schools and universities, from different backgrounds. The lessons are of interest for the environmental curriculum, but also for management schools, economists and the humanities. We have used to explain “why games” to colleagues in research projects all over the planet, at workshop and conferences. We have also used it in the field – in Madagascar, Colombia, India – whenever we want people to understand why we invite them to develop a game to resolve their issue. The game is generic enough that a forester will relate it to his forest concession, a hunter will think it is about hunting and the competition with the other hunters, a fisherman that is about fisheries management. And in a sense, they are all right – ReHab is about managing people about a natural resource.

When you ask about the results of the game, I assume you mean what happened after the game once people had returned to their daily life. I cannot answer that question. I only have anecdotal evidence. The idea for the CoPalCam game was laid out on paper by Patrice Levang, the principal scientist doing research on the supply chain in Cameroon, at the airport on the way back from the workshop where he played ReHab for the first time. One year later we were playing it with the government and decision makers in the panel. I can also tell you, for example, I changed the direction of my entire research after the ReHab game session I played 11 years ago. So in a sense, everything I have achieved since is an outcome of the ReHab game. But I do not think reviewers would accept that as a measure of impact, right?

Did your work on the models and games change your perspective on challenges connected to sustainable development? If yes, how?

Yes. Profoundly. I understand people are not irrational. I understand they take decisions based on what they know but also of what they can, or more precisely, what they think they can. I know that policies that do not consider this will not be successful. I have learned we deal with wicked problems, and that trying to tame them, imposing our solutions on others to problems we alone have defined is a dead end. I have learned to recognize complexity and deal with it. I have learned the best-laid plans go waste, and it is best to embrace uncertainty and cope with surprises. Sometimes they are good!

More importantly, I have learned to question my assumptions. How do I know my values are the right ones? How do I know what to do and what entitles me to give recommendations?

And I understand the world through the models. In ComMod we often use multi-agent systems as a model architecture. For me, this is how I analyze a landscape. I seek the components, the resources, the actors and their desires, beliefs, and intentions. The models are the lenses through which I give meaning to the complexity of the world surrounding us.

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Recently, we talked about an SDG-inspired mobile game for kids and its importance for shaping the future towards sustainability on our blog. What about children’s education? Schools can significantly help next generations understand this complex, sometimes abstract topic. Taking it to schools implies many benefits, as both pupils and teachers will explore the sustainability issue, for instance. Moreover, implementing sustainable practices in schools is also beneficial to the administration as it may reduce costs in the long-term.

And is there any better way to learn than by playing games? Darcy Hitchcock from the Sustainability Alliance in Arizona has developed not one but two games which can be applied in the children’s education context: Sustainability in Schools for teachers and administrators, and Save the Climate for pupils. We had an opportunity to talk with her about the content and usage of both games, and her work at Sustainability Alliance, a network of organizations collaborating for a sustainable future.

Darcy, could you briefly describe what the games Sustainability in Schools and Save the Climate are about?

The Sustainability in Schools card deck can be used either as a game in a learning environment or in school as a planning tool. In teams, teachers and administrators go through a set of roughly 40 cards, each one representing something a school can do to be more sustainable, including actions associated with waste, water, purchasing and energy. Each card or action is rated based on the sustainability benefit (we used The Natural Step system conditions to score this) and the cost in both money and time to do it. The players develop a 2-year sustainability project plan, deciding what they will implement. If desired, the teams can be scored on cost/benefit, the highest sustainability benefit with the lowest cost+time score. This game/simulation shows educators the myriad of possible sustainable practices, points them toward those that make smart business sense, and helps them develop a logical implementation order for the projects. Then they can examine how to embed these projects into the classroom.

The Save the Climate board game has a board and a set of cards that represent personal actions that can contribute to or reduce greenhouse gases. The players read a card and ask if anyone at their table or their families does that action (e.g., the parent drives the child to school, or the student bikes to school). If someone does it, the card goes on the board as either increasing greenhouse gases or reducing them. After the players have eliminated all the cards, they score their collective climate impacts and then discuss ways to eliminate some of the harmful actions.

There are two versions of the board. The basic board simply asks players to distinguish between what contributes to or reduces greenhouse gases. The more advanced version asks students to distinguish whether the actions create methane or carbon dioxide and scores the methane emissions more harshly (since methane has a much higher climate impact).

This game helps the students feel responsible for their actions – both good and harmful. And because the scoring is at the team level, they are held jointly accountable, opening opportunities to talk about interdependencies and justice.

How did you and your team get the idea of creating games about sustainable practices and environmentalism in schools? What was your starting point?

I’ve been a fan of instructional games for decades. I published an article in TRAINING Magazine in 1988 called “Instructional Games and Simulations.” Back then one of my projects involved teaching line foremen (the people who supervise utility crews) Equal Employment Opportunity and Sexual Harassment laws. I knew lecturing them would never work so I built a board game where each player got $100,000 in play money and then had to start deciding if an action was discriminatory or not. If they got it right, they got a raise; if they got it wrong, they started forking over money to the harmed party and the attorney. In an hour, they went through 40 nuanced cases, some just okay, some not. And they loved it! Some asked me if they could buy the game to play with their buddies. I wondered if betting might be involved!

Anyway, fast-forward to 2015. A group of us in the Sustainability Alliance wanted to show our local schools how they could implement more sustainable practices and save money. Often the first action teachers think of is to put solar panels on the school. Not a bad idea but really expensive. In Arizona, our schools are strapped.

So we needed a way to expose the teachers and administrators to all the possibilities and help them choose among them, developing a strategy that could pay for itself with savings.

Someone on our team thought of Pokémon cards, where each card represents a different character with a different ability. That idea morphed into each card representing a different action and what emerged was the Sustainability in Schools Game.

Are the games focused on specific target groups? If yes, on which and why?

Increasingly schools are interested in embedding sustainability into their practices and curriculum but often teachers and administrators don’t know what to do. After recycling, they think about solar panels but there are a lot of other actions schools can take to save money, improve the sustainability of the school, and create opportunities for learning. The Sustainability in Schools Game is focused on teachers and administrators, those responsible for running the school. But it can also be used with school boards or even with the students, inviting their input into the sustainability plan.

The problem with teaching kids about climate change is that it can breed despair. We wanted a way to help kids see what they were doing to contribute to global warming but even more important, to see what they could do to turn things around. The Save the Climate Game is for K-12 (primary and secondary education). Depending on the sophistication of the students, the game can be made more difficult.

Let’s talk a bit more about the Save the Climate Game for kids. Are there any skills needed to play the game? Which new skills could be developed?

In the Save the Climate Game, a prerequisite is that students know what a greenhouse gas is. If the teacher prints the cards that reduce greenhouse gases on green paper and those that increase greenhouse gases on red paper, the students learn what makes the climate worse and better. If the cards are all printed on white paper, then the students must figure out whether the action saves or increases greenhouse gases. If they use the more advanced board game, they also have to understand the chemistry and different greenhouse gas impacts associated with methane and carbon dioxide.

Through the game, they learn to take responsibility for their actions and influence others to change behaviour. Math is required for scoring. Reading is of course required.

What are the most important lessons that can be learned from playing the game?

Students leave the game feeling empowered, knowing what they can do to make a difference. They also realize how interdependent we are. My behaviour may affect you.

What sustainability and educational goals can be achieved by using the game?

According to the Benchmarks for Educating for a Sustainable Future (a consensus document of Education for Sustainability thought-leaders defining what the field is) organizes the Big Ideas into three categories: Living on Planet Earth, Making Change and Taking Responsibility.

Living on Planet Earth: The Save the Climate Game teaches the mechanism through which humans are affecting the climate and how we can turn it around.

Making Change: They players collaborate to come up with practical solutions to reduce greenhouse gases in their own lives.

Taking Responsibility: Each player takes responsibility for their family’s behaviour.

What psychological and social processes may happen in and between players?

Because they are scored as a team, it raises a tension between individual freedom and collective benefit, the core challenge of any society. Do we have the freedom to emit all the greenhouse gases we want or do we need to influence societal behaviour?

Can you give any advice on how to facilitate game workshops?

It’s important that games not be an end in themselves. It’s not just about having fun or creating variety in the classroom.

There are a few places where games or simulations really make sense from a pedagogical perspective:

• when the content is dry or the audience unreceptive (like the line foremen and EEO).
• when the skills require complex interaction, socially and/or intellectually.
• when doing the task for real is too risky or dangerous, at least not without significant training (like pilots).

Some general tips:

• If you’re designing a game, leverage norms or game models that most people already know. Most people know to go clockwise around a board or how to play Jeopardy. Using familiar models will help participants focus on the learning, not how to play.
• Be careful about competition. It can amp up the level of interest but it can also hurt relationships. Think carefully about who should be on a team.
• Prepare a careful debrief to anchor the lessons the students should glean from them.

In which settings has the Sustainability in Schools Game been played? What results did you observe?

I’ve used the Sustainability in Schools Game at teacher conferences, as well as within a school to educate the staff about sustainability and also to help a school create a first-generation sustainability-plan. At a teachers’ conference, we demonstrated the game with perhaps 40 people. At the end of the game, I asked how many learned of new actions they could take in their schools. Almost all hands went up.

Did your work on the games change your perspective on the issues connected to climate change? If yes, how?

With Sustainability in Schools Game, I worked with a teacher to score each of the actions or cards. I learned that often time is more a constraint than money, so we added the effort required as a ‘cost.’ We also added to the debrief a ‘sanity test.’ I asked, ‘Can you really get all this done in two years or should we move some ideas to a later time?’

Probably the toughest thing about the Save the Climate Game was deciding if some actions ‘reduced greenhouse gases’ or not. What was the standard? For example, did riding the bus to school reduce greenhouse gases (over the default or worst case of every parent driving their kids to school) or should it count against the player because it still generates some greenhouse gases? In the end, we decided to score the cards as reducing greenhouse gases if they were better than the norm. But the game can be played in a more nuanced way. It’s up to the players to decide which can lead to a rich conversation after.

One last, more personal question. If you had to choose, what would be your three favorite serious games?

The irony is I’m not much of a game player. When I was a little girl, I remember taking the ‘Old Maid’ (the card you didn’t want to get stuck with) out of the deck. I sat on it. I didn’t like losing but I didn’t like making my friend sad either. So I’m not a big fan of artificial competition. (Read Alfie Kohn’s work on competition: No Contest: The Case Against Competition and Punished by Rewards.)

So I’m much more intrigued by games that are collaborative. I haven’t played it, but games like the World Peace Game seem really rich to me.

Both games can be downloaded for free under the Creative Commons License from the Sustainability Alliance website. Go to www.SustainabilityAllianceAZ.org and click on Education. Scroll down till you see a link to Educational Resources where these activities and other materials are available.

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Targeted especially at children, the game educates about global challenges and possible ways to address them. In a playful way it also helps understand how to apply sustainable solutions in our day-to-day life, following the “Think globally, act locally” idea. But why is it so important to teach kids about such serious issues like responsibility, peace and sustainable production, consumption and development?

According to the Global Footprint Network the Earth Overshoot Day in 2017 fell on August 2, which was the earliest date since ecological overshoot began in the beginning of the 1970s. Earth Overshoot Day marks the date when humanity’s annual demand on nature exceeds what the earth can regenerate in that year. In other words, we are currently using nature 1.7 times faster than ecosystems can regenerate. But let’s not lose hope – the trend is still reversible. If we move Earth Overshoot Day back 4.5 days every year, we will return to using the resources of one planet in the future, around 2050.

And because today’s children will play a major role in the Earth’s future, it is important to raise their awareness of sustainable solutions that are already available. This is where World Rescue comes into play: While enjoying the video game, kids (and adults as well, of course) simultaneously learn about urgent global challenges and how to tackle them. Therefore, World Rescue is more than a game – it is a starting point for changing our perspective that may prevent us from destroying our planet and guide us towards a more safe and stable world.

We had an unique opportunity to interview Sandhya Nankani, the founder of the New York based company Literary Safari – the research and narrative design team behind the characters and stories in World Rescue. Deeply committed to implement inclusive projects that promote literacy, play, problem-solving, diversity, global connections, and storytelling, Literary Safari develops educational content and children’s apps inspired by the 4 C’s of 21st century education: Creativity, Critical Thinking, Communication, and Collaboration.

Sandhya, what is the main topic of the World Rescue game?

World Rescue is a narrative, research-based video-game inspired by the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. Through fast-paced gameplay set in Kenya, Norway, Brazil, India, and China, players meet five young heroes and help them solve global problems—such as displacement, disease, deforestation, drought, and pollution—at the community level. The goal of the game is to educate young global citizens about sustainability challenges and to show them that they too have a part to play in the creation of a more sustainable world!

How did you get inspired to create a game about the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN?

My company Literary Safari was approached by MGIEP back in 2016 when they had put out a worldwide gaming challenge to developers around the world to pitch concepts for gaming experiences based on peace, sustainability and global citizenship. The winning idea for World Rescue came from the Hungary-based game company Pixel Perfect/Zu Digital and when our team came aboard, the game mechanics, general concept and framework were in place along with the list of countries or regions that would be represented in the game and a general sense of the storyline of the game. What was missing was the narrative thread, the fully developed characters, and the actual story of the game—which is what Literary Safari’s team helped create and map to the game mechanics.

How did you get inspired to create the characters in the game?

We knew that World Rescue needed five main characters from different parts of the world – India, China, Africa, South America, and Europe – who would be between the ages of 11 and 35, and we knew that there were certain sustainability challenges that would be important to explore. What we needed to figure out was how to root our characters in real-life challenges and how to write a script that would feature solutions that they could realistically develop. We needed characters that were rich, authentic, not riddled with stereotypes but rooted in real-life case studies and development solutions. Being a superhero who can change the world doesn’t always mean having super powers – it means looking at problems creatively, being an attentive researcher and observer, knowing what resources exist that you can tap into locally, how you can collaborate with people and organizations, and finally, being resourceful and courageous. Our characters demonstrate all of these characteristics.

Our team did extensive research into the regions and we emerged with ideas for characters who represented a diversity of passions, and who could cumulatively tell a story about what young people can achieve when they harness their passion to make a difference.

Why did you choose a video game as a medium to talk about global problems?

Over the last several years, UNESCO through MGIEP has invested tremendously in research and product development to explore the impact and value of learning games and their potential impact on supporting empathy building, peace education and conflict resolution. World Rescue was an investment in product development to explore these questions further. At every step of development, the question we asked ourselves was: How can empathy games with their narratives and underlying mechanics, by evoking human emotions, support peace education and teach conflict resolution skills while educating a generation of young people about the United Nations’ goals?

As game designers and producers, I think that we need to mindfully create games that can meet curriculum objectives and support classroom teachers by having clear learning outcomes and that are equitable, diverse, and inclusive. Through a narrative-based storyline and fast-paced game mechanics, we take players through the journey of the five young characters and help raise awareness about the SDGs of the UN. For World Rescue, we had game mechanics and overall SDG goals but then we studied them closely and picked the ones that would be relevant and timely as well as engaging and that we hoped teachers could create curriculum or tie into existing curriculum in various content areas – environment, migration, current events, invention/science, industrialization, etc. In creating World Rescue, we selected countries and regions as well as world issues that come up in social studies curriculum in middle/high school – the environment, industrialization, etc.

Why do you think a video game can be a successful medium to talk to young people about global problems?

World problems that occupy the agenda of the United Nations can sometimes feel far away and unrelatable to young people. But if they walk in the shoes of the characters in World Rescue, they can experience those problems in as much a first-hand way as possible. Other examples may be mini-games such as Aid, where they stand in line to get supplies such as water, shelter, and food, or Travel, where they become refugees and have to escape a dangerous situation. You know the saying “Walk in someone else’s shoes.” Games allow us to do this – and while entertaining, they can also educate and open one’s eyes to circumstances outside of our possible real-life experience, perhaps even inspiring us to learn more about different cultures, global issues, and communities.

Who is the main target of the game? Is it targeted at specific age groups? If yes, why?

The content of the game hits on topics of drought, climate change, industrialization, and research and development, which are covered in social studies courses in middle school (as we call it here in the US) for young people in grades 5-8, and that, I think, is the ideal audience, especially as building awareness of social and civic responsibility on a local and global level is key during these developmental years. Because game has dialogue which is in English, so its maximum experience would be for English language speakers.

Are there any skills required to play the game? If yes, which?

The skills in the game are all easily acquired. What is special about the game is that you build your knowledge about the content of the game – learning about different countries and topics such as deforestation, drought, water pollution, and energy.

Do you think that, through using the game, sustainability goals can be achieved?

I think sustainability requires a diversity of efforts from many different spheres. The game is one avenue to open young people’s eyes to the importance of sustainability and to engage them in a deeper understanding of this chart so that it has real meaning and relevance to them.

What could happen in players while playing World Rescue, psychologically speaking?

An Online Gaming and Youth Cultural Perceptions survey that was conducted in Ireland by Killian Forde and Catherine Kenny found that children who play multiplayer games online are more likely to have a positive attitude toward people from another country. In this one study, 62 percent of online gamers hold a favorable view of people from different cultures compared to 50 percent of non-gamers. That is just one report, but it certainly guided my thinking as we developed World Rescue.

MGIEP has published a terrific white paper titled “Empathy, Perspective and Complicity: How Digital Games can Support Peace Education and Conflict Resolution” that was authored by Professor Paul Darvasi of York University in Toronto, Canada. It’s worth a read.

I also love this quote from “The Benefits of Playing Video Games” by Isabela Granic, Adam Lobel, and Rutger C. M. E. Engels, American Psychological Association. I I do think applies to World Rescue and other narrative and empathy games:

“Gameplay has cognitive benefit because games have been shown to improve attention, focus, and reaction time. Games have motivational benefit because they encourage an incremental, rather than an entity theory of intelligence. Games have emotional benefit because they induce positive mood states; in addition, there is speculative evidence that games may help kids develop adaptive emotion regulation. Games have social benefit because gamers are able to translate the prosocial skills that they learn from co-playing or multiplayer gameplay to “peer and family relations outside the gaming environment.”

When creating a game, what elements are most important to include?

I will quote Jordan Shapiro, author of the MindShift Guide to Games and Learning, and a prolific author on games and learning here:

“Imagine if we could build learning games that provided the same kinds of complex motor and cognitive demands as fast paced action games while featuring narrative content that was curricularly relevant. Games all feature stories laid atop interactive mechanics. One approach to learning games might be to build narratives that reinforce educational content while employing the same familiar game mechanics. Teachers could also have students imagine how existing commercial game narratives might be retold to be relevant to class content.”

Game-based learning must be mindful of diversity of students audiences, network connection, learning environment, and technology. KIDMAP (Kids Media Diverse and Inclusive Action Project) is a new grassroots coalition of which I am one of the founding members. We are working on creating a best practices tool kit for media producers, including game developers, to help them in this sphere – this goes as far as hiring, budget/timeline, AV/Stock photos to device choice, characters, setting, etc.

Also, we have created a checklist rubric to help consumers and producers evaluate accessibility and diversity and inclusiveness of digital products. That is the DIG Checklist and it is available here.

What challenges do you face when designing games?

A challenge we face over and over again, is to help game designers who want to deliver a fast-paced, engaging game to create a narrative rich in content that supports learning outcomes and educational standards. Sometimes, we are brought into a project late in the game or after the mechanics have been determined. Other times, we are asked to create a curriculum or lesson plan to support a game’s use in the classroom without too much information about how a game will be marketed or who the core audience of educators using it will be.

I’ve created history games, STEM-education games, literacy games, and social impact games over the last several years. As a content producer and narrative designer of learning games, one of the things I’ve most struggled with being brought into the process after game mechanics have been determined by the game developers. I believe strongly that narrative design and mechanics and game concept should go hand-in-hand, especially when it comes to learning games and that collaboration must begin on Day 1 when a company has decided that they want to create a learning game. If such a process is followed, the final outcome would be tremendously richer because it would consider the twin audiences of young game player and the teacher who is the gatekeeper in a classroom or learning environment making the decision about whether the game can fit into the busy classrooms of today.

If you had to choose one game to take on a lonely island, which would it be?

That’s a trick question. I should say World Rescue, shouldn’t I?

I’m going to sound like a luddite here but as the mother of an 8-years-old, I think I would have to say that I would bring Scrabble (the board game, yes!), a pack of cards, and Uno because I wouldn’t have enough juice for my computer or Ipad to sustain me for long enough.

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The definition of disaster provided by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) gives an idea of the severe dangers related to disasters. The losses and impacts that characterize disasters are mostly connected to the exposure and vulnerability of people and places, and the severity of a hazardous event. What causes disasters? Major drivers are climate change, environmental degradation, globalized economic development, poverty, inequalities in the flow and use of information, unsustainable urban planning and ineffective disaster reduction strategies. Therefore, an important part of the Sustainable Development Goals agenda is global disaster risk reduction (DRR), aimed at anticipating new and reducing existing disaster risk, strengthening resilience and building a culture of prevention. How? There are many ways to achieve these goals, but today we are going to focus on one – gaming. It may seem odd but with the growing popularity of video games, some consider them a promising tool for training DRR skills. Our interviewee for this week’s post, Anthony Gampell, PhD candidate in the School of Environment at the University of Auckland, is one of the most known advocates for linking video games to disaster studies. But read for yourself…

Why did you take an interest in the topic of disaster games?

The graphic adventure game Maniac Mansion II: Day of the tentacle, developed and published by Lucasarts, is where my interest in video games began. I was fascinated by the out of the box thinking required to solve problems and complete puzzles. At the same time, I appreciated a humorous outcome it often involved. Thus my interest in anything video game related grew. During my undergraduate degree, I took a stage three geography paper focused upon the social dimensions of disaster, where one of the assignments involved designing an academic poster. I decided to design my poster around the myths and realities of disaster popular culture and found numerous mentions of disaster movies, books, paintings, music, music videos but nothing regarding disaster video games. I therefore decided this was an area lacking research and hence began exploring the topic of disaster video games.

What are disaster video games generally about?

There is no real definition of what disaster video games are about, as they are all so different. In terms of serious disaster video games, often these games focus upon building players’ awareness in regards to a particular hazard including how to prevent, mitigate and prepare for such disaster events. Mainstream video games vary widely but generally do not feature a heavy awareness building focus. A potential hazard in a mainstream game may fuel the narrative, be a part of the gameplay or even form the location for where the game takes place.

Why and how do you think serious games can serve as a tool to talk about disaster and DRR?

Personally, I think all video games – no matter whether they’re serious or mainstream – can serve as tools to talk about disaster and DRR. All video games require active participation from a player; therefore, players are engaged in the process. They are not passive. Players are required to make decisions based upon their experiences and beliefs in order to progress through a video game. Experimentation and play are also key components of video games, which presents an opportunity for players to be creative, explore ideas of ‘what happens if…?’ and, most importantly, have fun. Let’s take the mainstream game Spore as an example. By using the terraforming mechanics, players can observe the impacts of climate change. If players heat the planet too much, settlements on the coast are destroyed by the sea level rise. Therefore, they’re giving a visual demonstration of a long-term process upon a much shorter timescale. The discussion surrounding gameplay and player action in turn answers how video games can serve as tools to talk about disaster and DRR. Players share their gameplay experiences and connect ideas to the real world and everyday situations.

Who is the main target of such games? Are they targeted at specific age groups?

Video games themselves are almost an ageless activity, most people can play video games regardless of age. Generally, serious disaster games are targeted more towards a younger audience; children, teenagers, adolescents in their mid-twenties. I think this somehow reflects the aim of such games to build disaster awareness in youth who may then share their experiences and games with parents or older age groups. Mainstream titles are generally targeted towards a more mature target audience.

Are there any specific skills needed to play such games? – What?

With serious disaster games, having a basic understanding of disaster and/ or disaster risk reduction (DRR) concepts can be helpful, though players rarely need specific skills to play disaster video games. There is always an element of trial and error in the learning process. This allows players to construct in their own mind an understanding of how a potential disaster situation may unfold and how to best respond or prepare. I think a positive attitude, ability to accept failures and motivation to learn how to improve is probably more beneficial than any specific skills.

What are the most important lessons that can be learned from playing disaster video games?

There are numerous lessons that can be learned from playing disaster video games and I think these lessons are somehow individual to the experiences of each player and may vary depending upon gameplay. Some people find an experimentation aspect important, a serious game example being Stop Disasters where players can build buildings on the beachfront or further inland and realise the risks involved for such locations should a tsunami strike. Mainstream games like the Fallout or Metro series provide lessons in community resilience following a disaster event, reflecting real-life recovery situations. Therefore, lessons learned are more individual and depend upon the experience, the person and the game.

What sustainability goals can be achieved by playing such games?

Somehow, disaster video games touch upon most if not all of the 17 sustainable development goals, of course dependent upon the game played. To some degree, mainstream disaster video games probably touch upon more of the sustainability goals then their serious disaster video game counterparts. Generally, this may be due to the sheer game size and ability for mainstream games to include more details and player flexibility versus the more specific direction taken in serious disaster video games.

What psychological and social processes may happen in and between players while playing such a game?

Due to the requirement of active participation, experimentation and play, players have to make decisions that may draw upon different areas of their understanding such as morality, risk and consequences. However, all decisions build up the players understanding in regards to personal improvement but can also extend to helping guide other players in improving or discovering new aspects. For example, the inclusion of babies, elderly and disabled people in EarthGirl 2, resulted in players questioning what happens not only to these groups of people in a disaster but also to prisoners, the homeless and patients in operating theatres. Therefore, such video games can create a dialogue between players, as they become more aware of particular issues surrounding them. While video games may be considered solo activities, they are also often social activities and therefore can increase conversation between players who may be playing cooperatively in the same room, voice chat within a game or even over discussion on the internet. Pokemon Go demonstrated this perfectly with complete strangers coming together to discuss, create maps, catch Pokemon as well as carrying out many other activities with each other.

Can you give any advice on how to facilitate disaster games and workshops?

From my experience of facilitating multiple disaster video game sessions and workshops, I think the best advice is to let players explore without restrictions, especially in regards to shaping their gameplay experience. Allowing players to make their own decisions whether the facilitator may consider them good or bad, ultimately helps players build their own personal awareness and understanding. Players attending these sessions will use these decisions to create a dialogue with their fellow peers, which may lead to cooperation or competition but, most importantly, conversation. As far as the follow-up after a video game session is considered, I have found it is important to hold a debrief, often using various participatory tools like a carousel. It helps foster ideas and opinions and empowers the players, as they have an opportunity to allow their voices to be heard.

What, in your opinion, are the key elements of a serious game?

The key element of a serious game is probably purpose. There is a message that players should, by the end of the game(s), come away knowing. Though, there is a balance needed between a purpose and fun. Too often, I find the importance of the message forced upon players with overwhelming amounts of information, so playing the game feels like forced learning and the experience becomes devoid of any appealing or fun element. A serious game that has an underlying message or purpose but is surrounded by a non-restrictive environment for players to experiment and have fun within can help get the message across without feeling like learning.

What do you think are benefits of game-based learning?

There are a multitude of benefits to game-based learning, but I think the opportunity for experimentation and self-directed or self-regulated learning based upon a players personal motivations or agenda is one of the best benefits of game-based learning.

What is your favourite serious game, and why?

There are a few serious games which I like different aspects of, in terms of mechanics, content, social interactions, skills and motivations, though I did find Sai Fah – the Flood Fighter an enjoyable game. The game follows the main playable character Sai Fah through the pre flood preparations, during the flood and after the flood. The game has quite a fun and bubbly feel to the narrative with easy to use controls and puzzles to solve. The game has an overarching DRR focus and presents messages throughout the game but are not so forceful that they become overwhelming to the player or detract from the gameplay experience.

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The serious game holds many challenges for its players. It revolves around two countries that have access to the same river – one lies upstream, the other one downstream. In both countries, the Prime Minister and his subordinate ministries must take decisive steps towards solving problems with water supply and demand, energy generation, food production and preservation of wetland ecosystems.

To bring some dynamics into the game, the players are exposed to rainy and dry seasons and collect money whose amount depends on the actions taken during each season. With the generated budget, the policy makers can invest in new technologies to improve the life of the population.

I had an opportunity to play the game and experience it from the perspective of the Prime Minister of the downstream country. In this post, I will share four important lessons I drew from playing the game.

1. Learn about the person you collaborate with

In a role-play simulation, you step back from your own role and you can put yourself in somebody else’s shoes. By resigning from your own perception, you are suddenly able to understand your co-players better. It seems to me that such role-swapping practice may be especially helpful for professional life because you learn to listen to your client and comprehend his needs better.

2. Learn how to act in complex situations

Managing a country demands considering many things, which applies also to your professional life. Everyday you face complex situations and are forced to make quick but precise decisions. How to do it without losing objectivity and long-term perspective? Potential conflicts and side effects of your mistakes may be painful but also minimized if you learn strategic thinking.

Role-play simulation games offer the best environment to practise these skills!

3. Learn how to improve yourself constantly

Since the policy makers must invest in a number of technologies to improve the country’s state, support from the NGO and collaboration with the other country is inevitable. The same goes for your own professional and personal development – you require progressive feedback from your co-workers and ongoing communication with the people around you to grow.

4. Learn how to think and act sustainably

The country’s income depends highly on its environment. The policy makers’ thoughts and actions concerning the wetland ecosystems affect the development of the country in a long-term perspective. That’s why Nexus Game showed me once again that sustainable management is the only sensible solution and more people should be aware of it.

Nexus Game will be played at the Dresden Nexus Conference, during which participants will have the chance to experience the benefits I mentioned in the post. Previous workshops have shown that the game is usually perceived as both fun to play and motivation to reflect on some important matters. The gameflow is carefully thought out, and many elements and situations from the real life are considered. Of course, nothing is perfect and there are some things that could be improved. After playing the game, there is always a debriefing session and a discussion.

Ultimately, Nexus Game is bound to engage actively and to intensify learning effect. So, if you want to learn – now you know what to do: start playing!

The game was developed by Centre for Systems Solutions in collaboration with the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in cooperation with the Sustainable Energy for All initiative.

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