Special Issue "Serious Gaming for Sustainability – Educational, Policy, and Research Perspectives"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Education and Approaches".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Geertje Bekebrede
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Delft University of Technology, Faculty Technology, Policy and Management, Department Multi Actor Systems, PO Box 5015, 2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands
Interests: serious games; simulations; transitions; energy; urban development
Prof. Dr. Ivo Wenzler
E-Mail
Guest Editor
NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences, Academy of Creative Technologies and ICT, Rengerslaan 10, 8917 DD Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
Interests: serious games; simulations; management of change; design-based research

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The issues around environmental, social, and economic sustainability often have a global connotation, while solutions to these issues are often designed and implemented at a local and regional level, where they face the challenge of being effectively embedded in the existing social and technological infrastructures. At the same time both the industrial and service sectors of our society that are contributing to these solutions are undergoing a radical change, partially due to the rapid digitalization-driven innovation and ever more important position of information technology.

The interesting question is what could the contribution of serious gaming be to 1) keeping regions vital and thereby more sustainable, 2) facilitating innovation aimed at creating smarter and more sustainable industries, and 3) designing and implementing sustainable services with value in the present as well as in the future.

Serious gaming, with a primary purpose other than entertainment, is already recognized and used as a method for addressing educational, policy, and research questions around sustainability. There has been a number of serious games developed around sustainability issues (e.g. energy transition, sustainable urban development, climate change, circular economy, social sustainability) and primarily focused on creating awareness and facilitating change.

Because this Special Issue aims to highlight the broad scope of possibilities of serious gaming for sustainability, we would welcome research contributions both about a) the design and b) the effects of serious gaming for sustainability (SGFS).

Regarding design, we are particularly interested in studies that apply the design science research (DSR) paradigm: research for design, research through design, and research into design of SGFS, all-around exploring, promoting, and knowledge aggregation regarding sustainability in the broadest sense of the word. Regarding the effect of serious gaming, we would invite studies on how serious games have been contributing to enabling change around sustainability and the methodological issues around impact evaluation.

This Special Issue will focus on, but is not limited to, the following questions:

  • For what purposes are games used regarding sustainability?
  • What type of games or which game elements lead to a successful game or gameplay?
  • Which theoretical concepts are used as a foundation of game design?
  • What is the role of the DSR paradigm in developing serious games?
  • What are the challenges and trends in serious gaming for sustainability?
  • What are the best practices in the development and adoption of serious gaming for sustainability?
  • How to generate and represent cultural content in games about sustainability?
  • What are examples of successful applications and case studies?
  • How to evaluate the impact of gaming on sustainability?
  • What are the endogenous, exogenous, and autogenous intentions of serious games on sustainability?
  • How sustainable is the change of participant behaviors and resulting actions due to a serious game?
  • Do policymakers come to creative solutions around sustainability?
  • What are the long-term effects of playing games for sustainability?

Dr. Geertje Bekebrede
Prof. Dr. Ivo Wenzler
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • design research
  • game design
  • game evaluation
  • gamification
  • serious gaming
  • smarter and sustainable industries
  • sustainable services
  • vital regions

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

Article
Game for Complete Care: A Means of Connecting ‘User-Centered Design’ with Sustainability
Sustainability 2020, 12(24), 10555; https://doi.org/10.3390/su122410555 - 17 Dec 2020
Viewed by 589
Abstract
This paper addresses sustainability and gaming from an interior design education perspective, emphasizing the importance of understanding the meaning of ‘complete care’ and raising the awareness of care among design students. The four-step inquiry was adopted as a methodological framework. The theoretical model [...] Read more.
This paper addresses sustainability and gaming from an interior design education perspective, emphasizing the importance of understanding the meaning of ‘complete care’ and raising the awareness of care among design students. The four-step inquiry was adopted as a methodological framework. The theoretical model of ‘complete care’ was proposed and the interactive game ‘Ideal Home’ was developed to raise the awareness of care in design. The game imitated a conversation activity between the interior designer and the client at the early stage of the design process and assisted ‘designers’ to ask meaningful questions from ‘clients’ so as to develop a better understanding of their care needs. Six postgraduate students with interior design backgrounds played the game, and they were observed and interviewed. The results suggested that the participants’ understanding of care improved after they played the game and they were able to identify more issues and detailed needs through the conversations. The significance of the research is that it proposes a theoretical framework to explain the meaning of ‘complete care’ in the design process, and also develops a practical tool (i.e., the game) to educate designers about care. Full article
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Article
Variability of the Motor Behavior during Continued Practice of the Same Motor Game: A Preliminary Study
Sustainability 2020, 12(22), 9731; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12229731 - 22 Nov 2020
Viewed by 665
Abstract
Motor behavior assessment during games could help physical education teachers and team coaches to design effective and efficient motor interventions. This study aimed to assess the variability of the physical and behavioral responses during continued practice of the game tail tag with a [...] Read more.
Motor behavior assessment during games could help physical education teachers and team coaches to design effective and efficient motor interventions. This study aimed to assess the variability of the physical and behavioral responses during continued practice of the game tail tag with a ball. Sixteen Spanish youth soccer players from an under-14 team played tail tag, with a ball, during four sessions (5 repetitions of 1 min per session). Physical (i.e., Total Distance (TD) and PlayerLoad (PL)) and behavioral (i.e., Surface Area (SA) and change in the Geometrical Centre position (cGCp)) dimensions were assessed with a local positioning system. The mean of the five series of each session was considered for further statistical analysis. The main finding was that the external load decreased (d = small − large) and the use of space varied during the continued practice of tail tag. Initially, SA increased substantially (d = large) and cGCp decreased slightly (d = small), and then both variables tended to stabilize. This suggests that after several repetitions of the same motor game, physical education teachers and team sports coaches should use this again later, modifying this or proposing new motor games where players respond to these activities that consist in greater uncertainty than to well-known motor games. Full article
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Article
Interactive Game-Content-Based Storytelling for the Environment
Sustainability 2020, 12(19), 8229; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12198229 - 06 Oct 2020
Viewed by 579
Abstract
To plan a persuasive environmental campaign, it is important to tell consumers environmental messages in an engaging manner, to encourage user participation. To explore the effective approaches to storytelling for environmental innovation, this study analyzes how varying interaction modes based on the interactivity [...] Read more.
To plan a persuasive environmental campaign, it is important to tell consumers environmental messages in an engaging manner, to encourage user participation. To explore the effective approaches to storytelling for environmental innovation, this study analyzes how varying interaction modes based on the interactivity levels of user participation framework influence people’s response to an environmental mission such as planting trees. This research has developed and employed various forms of interactive contents, such as problem-solving, mission-driven games to increase consumer awareness and induce pro-environmental actions. This research first reviews previous studies on game approaches and storytelling for environmental issues. It then explores how the different levels of interactive storytelling with the game content types induce consumer responses to a green product purchase or environmental protection campaign donation. Practical implications of environmental storytelling approaches and the use of interactive game content are also discussed. Full article
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Article
Rapid Games Designing; Constructing a Dynamic Metaphor to Explore Complex Systems and Abstract Concepts
Sustainability 2020, 12(17), 7200; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12177200 - 03 Sep 2020
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 896
Abstract
Initiated by a research project examining agricultural and water resilience in South Africa and tested in workshops on a range of topics, we reflect on our application of a half-to-one day “games designing” format for constructing dynamic metaphors for complex systems and related [...] Read more.
Initiated by a research project examining agricultural and water resilience in South Africa and tested in workshops on a range of topics, we reflect on our application of a half-to-one day “games designing” format for constructing dynamic metaphors for complex systems and related concepts (e.g., the resilience or sustainability of a catchment/agricultural marketing system). While this short format gives rich and detailed games that potentially could be played in an extended version of the workshop, we did not go ahead with this step. Instead, we devoted the limited time available to supporting participants in designing, comparing and discussing their games and to exploring the concepts and meanings of a given complex system, even if the latter was initially deemed by participants to be abstract and “academic”. Our abridged term for short-format games designing is “rapid games designing” (RGD). Key benefits to participating individuals, the whole group and workshop organizers include (a) the highly productive and creative use of limited time; (b) an inclusive group exercise that draws everyone into the process; (c) rich discussion of pluralist viewpoints through the comparison of the remarkable variety of games generated, including their differences in purpose, players and rules; and (d) observations on how the games construct a dynamic metaphor for the system and its properties, leading to deeper insights and knowledge building regarding system concepts and components. Here, we use two case studies in South Africa to explore what value RGD provides and how it does so, and then we briefly compare it to other similar methods. We also provide practical guidance for facilitating RGD workshops. In conclusion, we argue this format offers an option for the ongoing evolution of games about complex human, natural and socio-ecological systems and that it generates considerable creativity, learning, discussion and insights amongst all participants. Full article
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