Serious Games Information Center

To Be or Not To Be

The choose-your-own-adventure game “To Be or Not To Be” reimagines and remediates William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”. The digital game was released in 2015 by the developer Tin Man Games, based on the gamebook by Ryan North (2013). It offers players the option to play as Hamlet, Ophelia or King Hamlet, and manipulate events, thereby altering the narrative. The main object is for players to experience alternative storylines through the decisions they make as the game progresses. The game caters for a varied target audience as it appeals to those with an interest in literature, comedy, and interactive storytelling. Thematic elements include fate versus free will, and formal aspects involve, among others, satire, parody, and the reinterpretation of classic literature through a modern, humorous lens. Though not strictly designed as a serious game, “To Be or Not To Be” may be seen as combining educational content with entertainment, engaging users in active decision-making while also offering insights into the play’s structure and themes. The player reads text and selects options that influence the story’s direction.

My Five Moments: The Game

My Five Moments: The Game is a free online game developed by the World Health Organization (WHO). It aims to teach the principles of hand hygiene improvement at the point of care in a virtual clinical environment, and it is geared toward medical students, nursing students, physical therapy students, others, and infection control educators who are doing lessons on hand hygiene. Players need to take care of their patients by doing common clinical tasks (e.g., taking blood pressure, drawing blood) while also ensuring that they are doing hand hygiene at the right moment, according to the ‘My 5 Moments’ approach, a framework developed by WHO. Players also need to compassionately respond to the patients by helping them (e.g., taking care of a pet, connecting them with their loved ones). The game takes place in a future fictional clinical universe—the International Alien Hospital—and all of the patients are aliens from different planets, who have different needs. This game challenges players to prevent two key infectious threats (microbial cross-transmission and healthcare-associated infections) through timely hand hygiene.

Quandary

Quandary is an online, browser-based, free, single-player educational game that aims to teach ethical thinking, reflection, argumentation, and problem solving. The game was initially designed for middle and high school students, but has also been used effectively for higher education (university settings). In Quandary, players take on the role of a captain who is collaborating with others to build a new society on a fictional planet called Braxos. They face various challenges, such as what to do about missing sheep, which may have fallen prey to the Yashor, a native creature of Braxos. Players must investigate the situation by gathering evidence from community members, distinguishing between opinions and facts, and formulating a solution.

Green House

Green House is a card game designed for players 12 and older to save the planet from the effects of the climate crisis. Developed by Alix Dvorak and Adam Lupu, this card game provides players with 64 “Solution-Focused Action Cards,” focused on the ways families, businesses, nonprofits, and government entities can address the climate crisis. In team play players collaborate and consider how to act on events. Backed by a Kickstarter project in 2020, Limitless Harmony first published the deck to backers and is now available on the Green House website. Players grapple with obstacles such as pollution, time, cost, and hopelessness as they take actions to “clean the sky”. Green House provides a low floor for entry into the game as you do not need to be an expert on the climate crisis to play. The creators describe several reasons to focus on the climate crisis within a gaming context such as providing the opportunity to discuss these big ideas with friends and family as well as making it easier to access and understand possible solutions.

Durga Puja Beyond Borders

The educational video game Durga Puja Beyond Borders introduces to Indian festival culture, by focusing on Durga Puja. Today, Durga Puja is not only widely celebrated in India, but the festival is also a highly important event for global Indian communities. The game uses aspects of management games to playfully yet educationally introduce various layers of Durga Puja festival culture, such as joint Durga Puja organizations and especially celebrations. It conveys educational content about the festival’s history and past and present ways of worshipping and jointly celebrating, in India and beyond. Moreover, it allows a glimpse into how festivals are important events and locations for migrant communities to live and negotiate identity, heritage, and culture – beyond borders. This game invites you to join the festival in an exemplary global Indian community, in the so-called Indian diaspora, in Helsinki, Finland. In Durga Puja Beyond Borders you play as Laura, who takes part in organizing and celebrating a Durga Puja event hosted by a local Indian community.