Gamification of the participatory modeling process in the context of sustainable development

Overview

Problems lying at economy-society-environment nexus are complicated and messy. They do not have one ideal and correct solution, on the contrary, they require a comprehensive assessment of possible scenarios and risks as well as a consensus among stakeholders and consideration of their diverse, often opposing interests. 

Participatory modeling is one of the modeling methods that take the most from computer simulation modeling and combines it with facilitated discussion in a group of problem-owners and decision makers. The outcome of the process is not only the model that better represents the real problem but also a more in-depth understanding of the issue among the stakeholders and feeling of ownership for the developed solutions. 

Despite the long track record of successful cases of participatory modeling application to different problems of sustainable development, there is still a room for improvement of the method both in terms of fixing existing challenges along the stages of the process and in terms of making the overall experience of the modeling sessions more engaging for the participants.

Gamification and gameful design approaches are rapidly developing during the last ten years and have a high potential for being applied to the challenges of participatory modeling method leading to the improvement of the process and the outcomes.

Aim

To design strategies and methods for the application of gamification in participatory modelling (PM) in the context of sustainable development problems

Motivation

To make the process and result of PM sessions more effective in terms of (1) learning effects for the participants, (2) knowledge and opinion extractions for model development, (3) further use and dissemination of the results of PM for wider audience.

Objectives

  1. Review existing and propose new gamification methods and approaches to use in the context of PM
  2. Investigate how various stages in the PM process can be assisted by gamification tools
  3. Evaluate the impact of proposed gamification improvements on the process and final outcome of PM sessions 

Team