Serious Gaming in Water
Serious Gaming in Water
Serious Gaming in Water
June 10, 2022
By Fatima Taha, Shelby Hockaday, and Todd Jarvis
Summary
How can water managers and mediators mitigate conflict over transboundary water resources regardless of the geographic scale? We believe the answer is social learning through serious gaming.
While the stated goal of all games is educating about sustainable management of water, each game forces the participants to think about water in many different forms, ranging from the differences in valuing surface water and groundwater, the packaging of water in the form of goods, the benefits from water than can be traded, and the apparent "Nexus" of water with food, energy, money, and the environment.
As outlined in Table 1, we played these games in professional workshops focusing on water conflict resolution, water diplomacy, water security, and in college courses in water management, environmental conflict resolution, and business.
We experimented with comparing and contrasting water message games for surface water and groundwater by creating a groundwater variation of the water message game directed toward negotiating the change in water levels in a non-renewable aquifer.
Once students play water games, they quickly see the value of applying serious gaming to water resources management and often times develop their as part of their coursework.
The authors thank Adam Shapiro, Environmental Specialist with the City of Oceanside, California for initiating our research on serious gaming in water resources and Frank Van Weert, formerly with the International Groundwater Research Centre, for providing a copy of the Tragedy of the Commons groundwater game.
Globalization of Water Management Role Play Computer Assisted Surface Water Four or more parties and facilitator Interactive learning about water footprint and virtual water trade water while maintaining the environment.
Reference
Taha, F., Hockaday, S., & Jarvis, T. (2017, July 10). Serious gaming in water. Retrieved June 17, 2022, from https://www.mediate.com/serious-gaming-in-water/