Human beings love play. Be it board games, card games, computer games, or sports, we play different kinds of games. Games are about fun and entertainment. But can games be used as tools? Tools that help us tackle wicked problems?

‘Wicked problems’ constantly change, and adapt to any intervention. In order to meaningfully address wicked problems, we need spaces where people can collaborate, ideate, and have an informed dialogue.

Games help create such spaces for informed dialogues. The non-confrontational, yet realistic environment of games creates a safe space for participants to experiment and learn from failure. Such games can be used for learning and research in areas such as transport, waste management, city planning, disaster management, energy planning, and climate change, which involve multiple stakeholders, and complex trade-offs.

A good game should model the real world in just the necessary amount of detail; simplify it too much and the game loses touch with reality; complicate it with various rules, and information, and the game becomes hard to play. It involves the subtle art of balance.

If this sounds interesting, we invite you join Unpack Play, the game design course at Fields of View. Whether you are a domain expert or a tool builder, the course will take you through the process of problem formulation, elements of game design, and creation of prototype. You will learn how to decide when and where a game is useful, and how to facilitate and conduct such games.

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