Thrust 5: Gaming

Effective techniques that improve participation, the quality of that participation, and the resulting data for decision-making and policy implementation include decision-support tools – such as agent-based modeling – simulations and games. Gaming in particular provides a framework that can include both real and fictional scenarios that increase shared understanding of problems and potential solutions. Interactive, online games have been used to promote local engagement. These can utilize existing, more general game formats, but can also be developed based in a local setting, producing transferable learning that can then be scaled up for use in larger or different spatial scales.

The research in this proposal is designed to combine agent-based modeling and games. Designed first for local factors, the products will be effective decision-support tools that improve the quantity and quality of stakeholder participation in building adaptive capacity for sea level rise, and which can also be applied in other local and regional contexts.

We are already developing a board game called Atlantis: A Game of Sea Level Rise , in which each player is a stakeholder with an individual objective, outcomes of independent vs. cooperative actions are emphasized. We organize gaming nights to engage with the community, such as the university community including faculty and students, and stakeholders. See below for our first gaming meeting with the Tampa Audubon Society.

We also plan to combine the board game with the scenario planning model to develop a basic computer game with simple graphics. We will seek help from the stakeholders and the USF faculty to get in touch with computer game developers/researchers.