Creating Changemakers: A Serious Game for Disaster Preparedness

In recent years, disasters are increasing in numbers, location, intensity and impact; they have become more unpredictable due to climate change, raising questions about disaster preparedness and management. Attempts by government entities at limiting the impact of disasters are insufficient, awareness and action are urgently needed at the citizen level to create awareness, develop capacity, facilitate implementation of management plans and to coordinate local action at times of uncertainty. We need a cultural and behavioral change to create resilient citizens, communities, and environments. To develop and maintain new ways of thinking has to start by anticipating long-term bottom-up resilience and collaborations. We propose to develop a serious game on a physical tabletop that allows individuals and communities to work with a moderator and to simulate disasters and individual and collective action in their locality, to mimic real-world scenarios using game mechanics and to train trainers. Two companies–Stratsims, a company specialized in game development, and Society College, an organization that aims to strengthen society, combine their expertise as changemakers. They work with Professor Carola Hein (TU Delft), who has developed knowledge about questions of disaster and rebuilding worldwide and the conditions for meaningful and long-term disaster preparedness. The partners have already reached out to relevant communities in Amsterdam and the Netherlands, including UNUN, a network of Ukrainians in the Netherlands. Jaap de Goede, an experienced strategy simulation expert, will lead outreach activities in diverse communities to train trainers and moderate workshops. This game will be highly relevant for citizens to help grow awareness and capacity for preparing for and coping with disasters in a bottom-up fashion. The toolkit will be available for download and printing open access, and for purchase. The team will offer training and facilitate workshops working with local communities to initiate bottom-up change in policy making and planning.

Eindrapportage

In recent years, disasters are increasing in number, intensity and impact, and have become more unpredictable due to climate change. Attempts by governments to limit the impact of these disasters may prove insufficient. A cultural and behavioral change is needed so that citizens, communities, and environments can face this challenge bottom up.
To this purpose, the partners--Professor Carola Hein (TU Delft), Stratsims (specialized in simulation game development) and Society College (an organization aiming to strengthen society)--developed a serious game. Hein's knowledge about disaster and rebuilding worldwide and the conditions for meaningful and long-term disaster preparedness served as a key foundation. Game development and testing was led by experienced designer Jaap de Goede / Sangreal Games through workshops and testing sessions with TU Delft experts and students. Other networks such as PortCityFutures, AMS, SAGANET and Hanze Groningen joined in the testing and development.
Together, the partners developed an educational board game which helps create awareness and foster long-term disaster resilience. It is designed to be replayable, and can be used in meetings of interest groups, local communities, and in classrooms with or without a facilitator to initiate discussion, spread knowledge and foster awareness and understanding about disasters, readiness and disaster management. This is particularly needed in light of contemporary circumstances of our world.
The game was first envisioned to be played with a facilitator, in one-off sessions with local communities. Throughout development, the partners decided to broaden the scope, and make a more accessible board game, which could also be played more ‘out of the box’, and multiple times, to thus reach a potentially much greater audience. The result is a game that proved to be popular in demonstration sessions, sparking discussion and learning. ‘Storm over Eutopia’ will be distributed and tested in educational venues.