Meta Serious Game: Supporting Creativity Sessions for Mobile Serious Games

The early stages of Mobile Serious Game (MSG) design are very complex. That is why many MSG research projects start with a brainstorming session, involving pedagogical and game experts. However, brainstorming with large groups of participants, who come from very different backgrounds, can prove to be long and inefficient. In addition, classic brainstorming techniques are not well adapted to the large number of constraints and technical limitations that need to be taken into account when designing MSGs (e.g. educational content, number of students, duration of field trip, fences). Our hypothesis is that the first stages of design can be efficiently supported by a board game. Indeed, games have proven to be very efficient to support collaboration and enhance motivation and they can be designed in such a way to encapsulate constraints in their game rules. In order to test this hypothesis, we created a meta-SG: a game for designing a botanical MSG for a natural park. The experimentation we conducted with 17 designers was very encouraging. The analysis of the videos, questionnaires and produced scenarios showed that the meta-SG generated a very lively and productive creativity session, and the constraints related to MSG design were not perceived as limitations but as challenging game rules.