Author Archives: Tom Grant
Game Designers Are Made, Not Born
One of the major topics of this blog is game design. It’s an important concern for any game, serious or otherwise, but especially for serious games. Here are a few reasons why: The mechanics create the experience. Game design is … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged beer game, blog, Buy A Feature, design, innovation games, San Jose
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We’re back, we never left
Our goal for this site is, “Help people start using serious games to address their challenges quickly.” To accomplish that end, we added a lot of success stories, game descriptions, and other content. We had reached a level where I … Continue reading
Serious Mind Games
Business problem: Alignment, insight Serious games used: Speed Boat, Remember The Future, Knowsy Marriage and family therapists Kathleen Grant and Laura Osborn were looking for ways to help their clients make greater progress during treatment. They decided to incorporate innovation … Continue reading
Posted in Alignment, Insights
Tagged health care, psychology, therapy
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Deloitte
Business problems: Alignment Insights Serious games used: Video game, Firefly Freedom The consulting firm Deloitte wanted to take a different approach to recruitment. The typical battery of interview questions did not reveal a candidate’s willingness to take risks, think creatively, … Continue reading
Posted in Alignment, Insights
Tagged deloitte, firefly freedom, mobile game, video game
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Kriegspiel
Kriegspiel, also known as “sandbox” or “sand table” wargames, are military simulations that usually involve three teams. Two teams represent the combatants, fighting a battle; the other team consists of the umpires who determine what happens, based on the players’ … Continue reading
Posted in Education, Ideation, Simulations
Tagged Kriegspiel, Prussia, wargame
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Dice Of Debt
Dice Of Debt is a simple game designed to illustrate the importance of dealing with technical debt. Software developers often decide to cut corners, because there is a temporary benefit from not being as thorough as they might be in … Continue reading
Posted in Persuasion, Simulations
Tagged agile, quality, simulation, software, technical debt
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Half The Sky
Half the Sky is a series of three interactive games aimed at young people in India, Kenya and Tanzania. These games are part of the larger Half The Sky campaign, which highlights the oppression of women, and provides women with … Continue reading
Posted in Persuasion
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Howard Dean For Iowa
In 2003, the Howard Dean campaign hired designers Ian Bogost and Gonzala Frasca to create a game to help Dean supporters better understand and organize pre-caucus campaigning in Iowa. The game would use graphic elements to help volunteers see how … Continue reading
Posted in Motivation
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Trip report: Serious Play 2014
Last week, I attended the Serious Play 2014 conference in Los Angeles. I measure the value of any conference by how energized I felt at the end, and boy howdy, was I fired up by the last session. Not only … Continue reading
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