Serious Games

The aim is to update this page with resources to help resilience professionals and adjacent professions engage with meaningful serious games in the near future.

Whereas recreational games are a fun thing to do with friends, serious games are useful tools that can help test ideas in a safe-to-fail environment. It's better to crash an economy, or fail to effectively respond to an emergency, in a game than do those things in reality.

Design 

Some designs are simple tabletop systems that can explain a concept to senior stakeholders, whilst others might be larger affairs that are designed to test team planning across multiple departments, using in-person and digital attendance. 

Production

Quality graphic design and components will help engagement with any serious game - but equally, sometimes you want something which is clearly designed but still simple. 

Different types of game will need different production methods, including card games, board games, hybrid games, and 'print and play' models. 

Facilitation Vs Standalone

Some serious games require facilitation to help participants realise their full worth; others can be used as soon as the box is opened and someone starts to look at the game guide. 

Serious game resources

Here are a few places you can find resilience-themed serious games: 

Socialudo 

Stone Paper Scissors 

Simental Industries 

Neustart (German language)