Play and game your way to change
Play is a core part of human nature. As far back in time as we can see, people have played and gamed their way to communicating, connecting and collaborating with each-other.
Play helps create a circle of trust and bring everybody on the same level. Games lets us try new ways of acting and reflect on our behaviour.
At Workz we tap into the transformative powers of playful design and serious games.
It is not all fun and games
Play and games have been used to kick-start difficult conversations and teach important skills for as long as humans have walked this earth. Here are three reasons why:
Alibi for interaction
It is just more fun. Games and play can help start a conversation, motivate people to interact with each-other on equal ground and keep the engagement on tracks.
The magic circle
The playing ground or game board becomes a shared space where the rules are different, and you can say things and experiment without real-world consequences.
Reflection in action
When you play game together you accelerate the process of planning, acting and reflecting on your actions. This helps build self-awareness as well as analysis and decision-making skills.
Playful and engaging design
A researcher once did a study on the relationship between a playful design and a games-based process. He found that many of the positive effects of serious games can be achieved by simply designing tools and a playful manner.
At Workz we use this insight to design processes and tools with a playful character and game-like functions to help motivate and facilitate conversations based trust and curiosity.
We have a studio of skilled graphic and UX designers and illustrators that are experts in friendly and playful design. We use a human-centred design language and push the corporate visual identities to their limit. With respect, of course.
Serious games
Games have been used to teach and facilitate for more than 6000 years.
Workz have one of the world’s most experienced team of serious game developers. We have been designing learning games and other serious games for more than 25 years.
We use competition, storytelling and game mechanics to drive engagement, make complex subject matters simple, build 21st century skills and foster reflection and transformative conversations.
Well-designed serious games helps bridge the gap between knowing and doing, so that the players can bring the learnings from the classroom back into their (professional) lives.
Gamification and process tools
Gamification is the use of game-like features or design in non-game situations. Blurring the line between game and tool can be very effective in driving and facilitating transformative conversations.
Workz design games-based process tools and workshops that drives co-creation, knowledge sharing and shared reflection in a fun and engaging way.
These process tools helps start a conversation and keep it om a productive track. They make it possible to replicate the same conversation again and again with comparable results, act as a force multiplier to help you scale an involvement process beyond the normal capacity of your facilitating team and start a conversation with hundreds or thousands at the same time.
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Related blog posts and cases
Here are some related content from our archives:
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