Serious Games as an Inclusive Disaster Risk Communication Tool: A Literature Review

Serious Games as an Inclusive Disaster Risk Communication Tool: A Literature Review

Serious Games as an Inclusive Disaster Risk Communication Tool: A Literature Review

Paula Buchanan

Abstract

"The world is experiencing a notable rise in global disasters. In 1996, a total of 39 incidents were recorded compared to 396 in 2019 (Institute for Peace and Economics, 2020). Such incidents persist with 141 countries around the world exposed to at least one ecological threat between 2019 and 2050 (Institute for Peace and Economics, 2020). Furthermore, a population of a billion people are located in countries that do not have the resilience to deal with such threats (Institute for Peace and Economics, 2020). Therefore, governments and organizations over the world are shifting their focus to risk reduction and preparedness efforts in order to prepare for the risks people are facing and will continue to face worldwide. According to the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction, preparedness refers to “knowledge and capacities developed by governments, response and recovery organizations, communities and individuals to effectively anticipate, respond to and recover from the impacts of likely, imminent or current disasters” (Paton, 2019, Page 328). With the increase in the number of unprecedented disasters, the outcomes can be very difficult to endure for the people, community, and environment. Therefore, there are several ways to help build resilient communities and mitigate the severe consequences of disasters through education and skill-building. In this literature review, serious games will be studied as a learning modality for disaster preparedness. Serious games are those with an educational purpose, rather than games meant for entertainment. The increase in popularity of using non-traditional methods such as games for learning has made it an appealing and effective tool in various fields like training and development in corporate settings, education, and health. With respect to risk management in particular, many serious games on disaster risk preparedness and management have been developed and evaluated for efficacy. For example, The FLAIM Trainer has been found as an effective simulator for trainings on firefighting not only because of the virtual reality technology which immerses the user into a realistic context while maintaining his/her safety, but also because it is the first game of such nature to combine VR with haptic technologies (Ning, 2020). Although serious games have the potential to promote an engaging learning environment and improve education outcomes, there are some limitations to inclusive design in game- mechanics and simulation components that need to be addressed. For example, serious games are often limited in their range of potential disasters by not representing diverse populations, including but not limited to minority communities in terms of identities, races, ethnicities, backgrounds, abilities, cultures and beliefs (Executive Order No. 14035, 2021). Moreover, the design of games can neglect considerations of individuals with language barriers and other marginalized groups. Given that the population of potential trainees is diverse with each person having unique characteristics and skills, ensuring an inclusive game design that is accessible and tailored to the needs of the target population is important to consider. This is also especially important seeing that populations of color and marginalized communities are often the most impacted by disasters. In the coming sections, we briefly showcase the nature of current community outreach programs on disaster risk management. Subsequently, we present serious games as a viable alternative to more traditional programs, with both limitations and potential advantages for 2 promoting inclusion when properly designed. Examples of such games are then presented. Our goal is to be able to present potential areas of improvement for serious games to be used as a viable, more representative, and more inclusive alternative to disaster risk reduction programs while providing readers with guidance on selecting or designing inclusive serious games for disaster risk preparedness and management."

Reference

Buchanan, P. (2023). Serious games as an inclusive disaster risk communication tool: A literature review. Natural Hazards Center, University of Colorado Boulder. https://hazards.colorado.edu/uploads/freeform/buchanan-literature-review-web-v2.pdf

Keywords

Disaster Risk Reduction, Serious Games, Preparedness and Resilience