What can visitors experience there?
We want – also with regard to our understanding of science – to break away from the pure presentation of results in favour of an interactive, process-based perspective. This means that visitors are invited to explore a digital experience space. The whole thing is modelled on the traditional point-and-click adventures that many will probably be familiar with. You will be able to steer a very special character through the rooms of the Humboldt Lab, which we don’t want to reveal any more about just yet. Along the way, you will encounter exhibits and be able to experiment with them. We want to show visitors that science is all about playful curiosity and trying things out. It will be possible to play with media content that is only available online, but we also want to make people want to visit the physical exhibition.
What do you mean by ‘media content’?
There is a series of videos that have been specially produced and will only be accessible via the game. These are short sequences that present the topics of the Humboldt Lab in a clear and entertaining way.
How do you develop the game for the Humboldt Lab?
The most important thing in game design is not to choreograph mechanics or technologies in such a way that they create your own experiences, to make things tangible by doing them yourself. We ask ourselves: what emotions do we want to create, what is the underlying narrative, what game mechanics could we use? Then we start to think visually with initial drawings and models and design the player’s journey. We develop the corresponding software and test it with external parties from day one to ensure that our ideas work. Because small, situational adjustments are crucial. It is this attention to detail that ultimately turns a collection of ideas, narrative elements and mechanics into a convincing game.
Why do people play at all?
In our research at Humboldt-Universität, we have increasingly come to the conclusion that play is a fundamental cultural technique for humans. This can also be found in cultural history, for example in Johan Huizinga’s famous work ‘Homo ludens’, which classifies humans not as ‘Homo oeconomicus’ guided by utilitarian considerations, but as beings who play. According to Huizinga, all culture is created through play. What essentially defines us humans is play in all its facets. Even when we no longer call it play. When we act in our profession or in our social environment: All of this can be wonderfully illuminated, explained and understood differently using game theory perspectives. In general, we believe that it is worth taking games seriously and asking ourselves: How can we create experiences that suck us into the game universe and convey content in an emotional, intense and rewarding way?
How do games manage that?
Basic psychological mechanisms that we find in many games lead us to perceive successful games as fascinating. But they don’t always have to be fun. Games can also shock and affect us. They involve us emotionally. If they do this well, you want to return to this game world again and again. There is a famous definition by Salen and Zimmerman, based on Huizinga, which says that play is a kind of magic circle. In other words, a circle in which different rules apply than in the outside world of non-play. Nevertheless, the reference to the outside world is not completely lost. It is precisely the interrelationships that make the game interesting and from which, conversely, the outside world can learn. It is precisely this transgression between the game and the non-game that we thematise using so-called serious games or gamification, i.e. the use of game mechanics or motivational elements to impart knowledge, empathy or even for training purposes.
In which areas of our lives do we encounter gamification?
Game mechanics are incredibly powerful and can be found everywhere in our everyday lives, from online shops to career development and social media. Such mechanics are also used in areas in which we do not expect them – for example via progress bars or social feedback. It is also our task as scientists to initiate a reflection on this and to analyse where we encounter these mechanics everywhere.
Where are the dangers?
The fact that digital games almost always generate data means that control mechanisms can also be implemented under the guise of a game. These can, for example, make working conditions worse or more stressful. If a game comes across as colourful and fun, but in reality collects data about the way I work and then perhaps builds up pressure through comparisons and evaluations, we are far outside the Magic Circle. What happens then is what we sometimes jokingly refer to as chocolate-covered broccoli. In other words, people try to sell us something with a savoury coating that we don’t actually like.
What are examples of how gamification can support us?
Good gamification happens in cases where players are helped to build up interest or acquire knowledge more easily and intensively – and to make something that tends to be experienced as an unpleasant activity more motivating. Well-known examples include gamified sports or language learning apps that effectively help millions of people to better achieve their goals. They help to visualise progress and boost motivation. In our approaches at gamelab.berlin, we try to utilise such aspects to impart knowledge. In doing so, we categorically exclude control mechanisms, for example by not enabling the personalisation of players.
gamelab.berlin develops very different projects – from dance performances to school projects. What is it all about?
In general, it is always about experimentally exploring how far one can or should go with game mechanics and which areas can be viewed differently with perspectives from game design and game research. We’ve been exploring different areas that seem far apart, but all offer great potential for the application of game mechanics. For example, we now have the first results for a study on Neurosurgery 360°. This is an application in which neurosurgeons are trained with a virtual reality headset in order to better prepare for operating theatre situations. We have also adapted one of our apps to the coronavirus crisis as part of the German government’s #WirVsVirus solution enabler programme. As a result of Germany’s largest hackathon, we have developed a digital coronavirus card game. It is called Singleton #WirBleibenZuHause and deals with questions that were and are important in the pandemic in a playful way. We have just adapted this game for carers who are particularly affected by Covid-19.
