What’s in a Game? Using game features to analyse systems

Marie-Hélène Fokias and Vanessa Toye

This workshop explores how the familiar structure of games can help us better understand complex systems. Systems are all around us—healthcare, education, employment, politics—and we often talk about them as if they’re games: we beat the system or play the game. But what do we really mean when we say that? And do we all see the same system in the same way?

Systems are made up of parts that interact with each other to serve a purpose. But depending on our background or experience, we may understand those parts very differently. Systemic design offers tools to help us make sense of systems, but as a technical practice, it can be hard to access. This workshop aims to make systems thinking more inclusive by using something more familiar: games.

Games are structured forms of play that many people understand intuitively. They include players, rules, goals, and interactions—just like systems. By using game features such as character roles, dice, or cards, we can explore how systems work, who benefits, who is left out, and why. This playful approach lowers the risk of getting things wrong and encourages curiosity and collaboration.

Participants are asked to bring and examine physical game pieces, connect them to real-world systems, and work together to map out how those systems function. Through this hands-on, embodied experience, we explore how game mechanics can help us reflect on values, power dynamics, and possible changes within systems.

Keywords: games, serious games, understanding systems through games, design methods, systemic design, play

RSD: Mapping & Modelling, Methods & Methodology