Transformative Play
Can games transform us in profound, meaningful, and lasting ways?
Whether played in leisure time or in professional contexts, play can impact us significantly. Games invite us to shift our perspectives, our behavior, our relationships, and our ways of interacting with the world around us. These shifts in perspective can lead us to feel more empowered, empathetic, aware, engaged, and skilled.
At the Games & Society Lab, we investigate the potential of games as a means for personal and social transformation. Whether through design, play, or discussion, games can inspire us to change our perceptions of ourselves, our communities, and our lives.
Get involved with the Transformative Play Initiative.
Learn more about our freestanding courses and certificate track in Transformative Game Design.
Learn more about the Transformative Play Initiative Seminar 2022: Role-playing, Culture, & Heritage.
Research Approaches
At the Games & Society Lab, we research the ways in which games can be vehicles of change and ignite processes of transformation. We are particularly interested in applied play, in which games are employed as a means to assist participants on their journeys of growth. Guiding questions include:
- What design and implementation practices increase the potential for transformative experiences?
- What considerations are necessary to foreground when designing culturally responsive and inclusive play experiences?
- What challenges arise in the design, participation, and research of transformative play?
- How can we research processes of change over time and assess the effectiveness of playful interventions?
- How can we cultivate transformational communities that support participants through change processes?
- How do we design play communities that emphasize safety and encourage bravery when exploring edges for growth?
Conceptual Frameworks
We invite research from a wide variety of conceptual frameworks related to the theory, design, and study of games with regard to transformation including, but not limited to:
Design studies
Deep game design
Applied Theatre
Role-playing game studies
Developmental psychology
Transformational leadership
Conflict transformation
Ritual studies
Psychodynamics
Coaching
Game design as a process
Critical making
Performance studies
Experiential learning
Education
Peace studies
Group dynamics
Depth psychology
Counselling
Research Initiatives
Transformative Play Initiative
Research Projects
Games and Learning in Young Children