GREAT: Games Realising Effective & Affective Transformation
Research and innovation in the GREAT project will generate new knowledge of the actual and potential impact of games on European society and new understandings of the innovative uses of games to support the social engagement of citizens. Leveraging the central role of games in contemporary culture, it combines academic studies and practical experimentation with novel applications of games.
The GREAT Project aims to demonstrate that games have a positive impact on social engagement and create a new form of dialogue between citizens and policy stakeholders. By exploring the innovative potential of a games, citizens will be able to express their preferences and attitudes on policy issues. The project will carry out a series of case studies to test the approach, investigate its potential, and generalize the results.
Using collaborative design and citizen science methods, it brings together researchers with expertise in the areas of games, data analytics, and policy in an integrated investigation, articulated by case studies of the use of games in facilitating dialogue between citizens and policy stakeholders (policy makers, policy implementers, political parties, campaigning organisations and affected citizens).
The context for the research is the climate emergency, and each case study is a research cycle addressing a policy issue and research questions, with multiple pilots and quantitative and qualitative research activities. An important aspect of the method is to place games in an authentic context, so that players are aware that their activities have real-world implications, and to close the loop by including interactions with policy stakeholders.