At fractals, we’re passionate about using and making games to help people to understand research findings in an embodied way, and to make different kinds of conversation about complex systems possible.
It's been a game centric week in fractals land!
Games as conversation about systems
At fractals, we’re passionate about using and making games for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes they’re about helping to understand research findings in an embodied way. Other times, they’re about creating a space for different kinds of conversation about complex systems. This week we want to tell you about a game that is both!
I finally got round to putting Meal Deal on itch.io. Meal Deal is a game/design artefact from research I lead with Ben Kirman about the experiences of gig economy cycle couriers. It’s a game that has players experience the highs, lows and unfairness of this kind of work whilst trying to make rent. Through design and play we’ve had a load of great conversations with people about aspects of courier work that people often don’t see or think about.
Ben and I submitted a talk to the British Digital Games Research Association Conference this week. One of the things we want to talk about is how Meal Deal isn’t a traditionally “good game”—it’s an experience that has been designed to make critical, reflective conversations happen, not just to be a fun, replayable experience that can be neatly packaged into a product to be sold. It’s honest about the realities of the system. Gig economy work is hard and unfair, so the game can often be hard and unfair. By resisting ideas of fairness and balance that many people think are core to the games, it provokes deeper understanding.
If you want to read more about other games that we’ve made that provoke reflective conversations about how complex systems work, take a look at the Museum of Lost Futures or The Tomorrow Deck.
Have you thought about disseminating your research findings through a game or reflective experience? Get in touch and we can have a chat about your options.
Loser Lane. A game I played this week.
I played Loser Lane by Marie LeBlanc Flanagan this week after a great conversation with Dawn about games that are about having conversations about systems and games that are conversations with people. Loser Lane was made in response to the death of a cyclist and the shitty systems that make it so difficult for bike lanes to exist and protect cyclists.
Thanks to Dawn for sharing this with me.
Marie's post about online hangs is great inspiration for doing online hangs and conversations in different ways.
