Playing games for risk prevention: design, implementation and testing of serious games in recent European projects UPStrat-MAFA and KnowRISK

Abstract

In the last decade, bottom-up strategies of risk education have raised importance, making serious games to become an alternative or complementary teaching tool for enhancing skills for a collaborative and adaptive response to social-ecological challenges. This study describes issues and challenges of serious games implemented within the framework of two European projects, namely UPStrat-MAFA (Urban Disaster Prevention Strategies using Macroseismic Fields and FAult sources) and KnowRISK (Know your city, Reduce seISmic risK through non-structural elements); the goal is to instil in young people a proactive attitude towards the mitigation of seismic risk . The games were tested in some dissemination events focussed on fostering seismic risk preparedness in students and improving good practices. We discuss the performance of our games even against more standard approaches to risk education. Our experience shows a rise of students’ engagement compared to standard learning activities. The games were effective as students were able to grasp the most relevant actions to reduce risk.