February 10–12 2016 – Geneva, Switzerland

Playing Democrapcy: testing new rules for democracy through game design

Workshop
Curated by the Lift community
Fri, Feb. 12 2016 - 11:15 to 12:45
Room 14, level 2

Take part in the beta-test of the next hit board game!

Building on an ongoing project started last year, this workshop will give the opportunity to test and improve one of the games developped to bring back young people into civic life. While some participants will play and test a board game, others will be asked to observe and reflect upon the game prototype. Marion Bareil and a group of Masters students from HEAD – Genève will then invite players and observers to a critical brainstorming session trying to answer the following questions:

  • Who is the next generation of voters?
  • How can the game be improved?
  • Is the form of the game in agreement with its mechanisms?
  • What would be the strenghs and the drawbacks of a digital version?

Through this on-going case study, participants will familiarize themselves with the concept of gamification applied to political and social issues.

 

Background of the project

In 2015, Lea Schönfelder and Marion Bareil held a workshop at HEAD – Genève in collaboration with the Chancellerie d’État – République et canton de Genève, where students from the Masters in Media Design and from the Bachelor in Visual Communication designed and produced game prototypes that challenge the role of the citizen in modern democracy.

Thusly approached, games become powerful tools giving the player the ability to change the system.