Polderworld - a serious game

At the moment, I am working hard on a (very) serious game: “Crisis in Polderworld” — a rewarding challenge. In this game, players take on the roles of crisis managers, emergency responders, farmers, and communication teams. Together, they must make decisions, resolve dilemmas, and deal with unexpected developments such as floods, protests, and disinformation. In short, it’s drawn straight from real life.

EXPERIENCING COMPLEXITY

A serious game is more than 'just a game'. Serious games are about practicing skills, experiencing dilemmas, or understanding complex situations—such as a crisis, an ethical issue, or a societal challenge.The literature shows that for ‘maximum impact’ you should strive for the following:

+ Realistic scenarios: Use recognizable situations, current dilemmas, and credible roles. Let players experience what is truly at stake.

+Clear learning objectives: Determine in advance what you want to achieve. Do you want to stimulate collaboration? Practice decision-making under pressure? Or raise awareness about social issues?

+Flexibility and variety: Ensure unexpected twists, dilemmas, and multiple routes to a solution. This keeps the game engaging and challenging.

Especially the last point—flexibility and variety—is very clear. How do you ensure that enough happens within a relatively short time? In the book "Gamification: Using Game Elements in Serious Contexts" by Stefan Stieglitz et al. (2014), the need for variety is described as follows: “Vary the game mechanisms and end goals to prevent boredom and keep the challenge high.”

I’ve already made good progress. But still…

GAME MECHANISM

Who has ever made or played such a game and experienced or invented game mechanisms and is open to sharing this? I hope for lots of suggestions (nothing ventured, nothing gained).Every contributor will be rewarded, with a lot of KARMA points, and, of course, evidence of how it is

#CreativePublicadministration #SeriousGaming #FlashFloods