Can games help people manage the climate risks they face? The participatory design of educational games

This working paper finds that games as well as the process of the participatory design of games offer an innovative approach that can accelerate learning, dialogue and action on how to address climate risks.

Key messages in this paper include:

• Games with an underlying serious purpose can speed up learning, dialogue and action on climate risks, engaging people’s minds and emotions, in sharp contrast to unidirectional learning through traditional lectures and PowerPoint presentations.
• Asking policy-makers to engage in the design of games helps create a constructive learning dialogue about climate risk management.
• Guidelines about how to design rules-based games that represent complex systems exist; they can help designers and decision-makers develop games that lead to compelling, memorable and fun learning experiences.