Digital games provide opportunities to facilitate learning, dialogue and reflection through game play. The Tabletop Games channel uses a multi-touch digital display to put players of all ages in the role of stakeholders developing an urban environment for a growing population while attempting to preserve a delicate environmental balance. Our research asks how this play experience can be designed to enable the general public to better understand and participate in issues surrounding sustainability. We are also investigating how to design to enable inter-generational communication about a greener tomorrow. Through a series of prototypes and user studies we are learning whether or not participation in such games increases people’s willingness to engage in discussion and support collective action on sustainability.
Researchers:
Alissa N. Antle
Joshua Tanenbaum
Anna Macaranas
Katie Seaborn
Allen Bevans
Tess Speelpenning
contact: joshuat@sfu.ca
