A practitioner's guide, grounded in research
Every design decision in a serious game says what you value.
Characters, rules, rewards, hardware, aesthetics — each one communicates values, whether you chose them consciously or not. This guide helps you make the implicit explicit: to discover, implement and verify the values in your serious game.
The journey
Values move through three phases of design — then a reflective lens asks why you made the choices you did.
1. Discovery
2. Implementation
3. Verification
4. Reflection
Where do you stand?
I'm designing a serious game
Walk the three-phase journey: surface your project's values, carry them through all fifteen game elements, and plan evidence that matches your claims.
Start with Discovery →I'm commissioning one
Write briefs and procurement criteria that make room for inclusion, participation and honest evaluation — instead of squeezing them out.
Understand the barriers →I'm researching or teaching
Explore the integrated framework — Values at Play, the walkthrough method and the Worlds of Worth — with full citations back to the source thesis.
Read the framework →Six worlds of worth
When designers, clients and funders disagree, they are usually arguing from different worlds — different ideas of what makes a game worthwhile.
A tension you will recognise
Realism Psychological safety
Faithful depictions of harm, pressure or failure can teach powerfully — and can shame, stress or traumatise. The learner-driver game cut realistic pedestrians for cardboard cut-outs; therapy games rejected frightening enemies.
Explore the lens →