Using social gameplay to drive effective climate risk communication -- and, thus, action

Games allow people to learn and reexamine their positions on issues in a comfortable, relaxed environment, without feeling threatened

Tackling FEAR, IGNORANCE, and SKEPTICISM through a game based on three design principles developed at ETH Zürich:

FUN

INFORMATIVENESS

COLLABORATION

 

Our game is a simple card game (that's it, no other equipment needed apart from 60 cards). There are four different kinds of cards, and each card comes with instructions on how points can be made.

The four different categories are:


The druid (Shower of wisdom)

The halfling (Collaborative performance)

The imp (Gives information, but could lie)

The bard (Stories with a deeper meaning)

Each card also provides new information on climate change -- but it is the gameplay that reinforces both awareness and action, through storytelling, physical movement, human touch, and private behavior questions.

The game ends when a player draws a special card (The "Greta" card), which requires the task on the card to be modified in a special way. The player with the most points wins the game.

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