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Short Abstract

This study explores how gamification can enhance ethics literacy and ethical decision-making in workplace contexts. An educational game on moral dilemmas uses role-switching and reflection mechanisms, which will be tested in an experiment to inform ethics education and corporate training.

Abstract

Everyday workplace issues, such as vacation scheduling, career advancement, or salary and bonus distribution, can present unfamiliar challenges for employees and managers, who are seldom trained to navigate them in academic or professional settings. These situations often develop into moral dilemmas within social interactions and may escalate into interpersonal conflicts with broader implications for organizational culture and external stakeholders. To address this challenge, our study investigates how motivational information technologies, particularly gamification, can enhance ethics literacy and foster ethical decision-making in workplace contexts. We are developing an educational game that immerses players in realistic moral dilemmas arising in organizational settings. The game design integrates two key mechanisms: (1) role-switching (same role vs. changing roles) and (2) reflection perspective (self-immersed vs. self-distanced). Furthermore, we plan to conduct a 2 (Same Role vs. Changing Roles) × 2 (Self-immersed vs. Self-distanced) between-subject online experiment with working adults to examine how these mechanisms shape learning experience and outcomes related to ethics education, perspective-taking, decision-making, and stress regulation in professional environments. This research contributes to the interdisciplinary fields of information technology, psychology, educational sciences, and business management, while also producing a practical research artifact, an educational game, applicable to both corporate training and university curricula.

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The Measure Together Sensor Game lets players build an infrastructure, collect and process data, and engage in dialogue about air quality. We ask feedback to improve the game’s impact, engagement, and suitability for different target groups.

Abstract

We developed the Measure Together Sensor Game (originally: Samen Meten Sensoren Spel) to simulate and deepen the process of citizen science around air quality in a workshop setting, without needing to set up an actual sensor network.

The game consists of two parts. In the first part, players work together as a measurement infrastructure. Each takes on a specific role: sensor, calibration expert, illustrator, or map maker. Game elements like time pressure (rounds), dice (uncertainty), calculations (data processing), drawing (visualization), and map making (geographical context) are used to collect and process air quality data. Through these roles, players experience the practical challenges of gathering, calibrating, and communicating citizen science data.

In the second part, players discuss the collected and visualized data. The focus is on dialogue: sharing findings, reflecting on the process, and brainstorming actions or solutions regarding air quality. This approach not only transfers knowledge, but also fosters engagement, critical thinking, and collaboration.

We would love to play the game together with workshop participants, so they can experience both the gameplay and the reflection phase firsthand.

Questions for the workshop panel:

• What tips do you have to improve the Measure Together Sensor Game, for example to increase behavior change or awareness about air quality?

• For which target groups (schools, communities, policymakers, companies) do you see the most potential, and how can we better tailor the game to their needs?

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Exploring how Games for Social Change can enhance citizen science engagement through analog play, co-design, and social empowerment. The contribution discusses methods to connect gaming, sustainability, and participatory research.

Abstract

I am a citizen and game scientist interested in how game-based approaches can transform science communication and citizen participation. My research focuses on the design and use of analog games—such as board games and role-playing games—as tools for engagement, learning, and social change in citizen science.

Game-based approaches can deeply transform how citizens engage with science, moving from data collection to collective reflection and action. Within this perspective, Games for Social Change represent a powerful framework to link play, participation, and social transformation.

This contribution discusses how analog games—board games, role-playing games, and hybrid formats—can serve as effective tools for citizen science engagement, promoting awareness of sustainability and biodiversity issues. Drawing on projects such as Impatto, Summit 2030, On Board, BOB, Turania, and BioUniversity (Parma), I will present concrete experiences where games have been co-designed with researchers, educators, and communities to explore scientific topics through participatory play.

The discussion aims to outline possible connections between Games for Social Change and Citizen Science, focusing on how playful design can foster inclusion, motivation, and long-term commitment. By bringing examples from Italian and European initiatives, the contribution seeks to enrich the workshop’s reflection on the transformative potential of games in citizen science contexts.

My goal is to contribute to a shared dialogue on methodologies, ethics, and the social impact of play within participatory research practices.

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Short Abstract

"OdourCollect, the Board Game" by Science for Change raises awareness about odour pollution through play. Inspired by citizen science and the UNE 77270:2023 standard, it empowers players to clean and protect their territories, turning complaints into data and cleaner air.

Abstract

"OdourCollect, the Board Game" is an innovative educational resource developed by Science for Change to foster understanding and action around odour pollution—an often overlooked form of environmental contamination. Based on the principles of citizen science and inspired by the UNE 77270:2023 standard, which validates citizens’ perception as a reliable source of environmental data, the game turns players into active agents of change.

Each participant assumes the role of a community member striving to reduce odours in their territory and protect it through environmental laws. By combining collaboration, critical thinking, and strategy, players experience how data gathered from everyday life can be transformed into valuable evidence for improving air quality.

The game also highlights the power of the human sense of smell—a complex and emotional sense closely linked to memory, well-being, and our perception of places. Through play, participants learn that odour pollution is not only a matter of discomfort but a public health and social issue that can be addressed through collective action.

Ultimately, "OdourCollect, the Board Game" demonstrates how science, participation, and education can intersect creatively. It provides a playful yet rigorous approach to environmental awareness, empowering communities to co-create solutions and promoting gamification as a path to a cleaner and more sustainable future.

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JellyfishGO! is a gamified citizen science platform engaging youth in jellyfish observation through digital twin technology, combining play and environmental education to foster marine awareness and scientific participation.

Abstract

JellyfishGO! is a proof-of-concept mobile AR game that transforms jellyfish observation into an accessible citizen science activity for youth. The design centers on photo-based, geo-referenced reporting and a digital-twin ecosystem that visualizes aggregated player observations. Core game characteristics include guided photography and capture mechanics, individual and team leaderboards, cooperative “jellyfish matches” that combine real and digital specimens for team points, structured missions, collectible badges, and a virtual inventory for reviewing captures. Teachers and facilitators can integrate gameplay into lessons and field activities to support marine biology, data literacy, and environmental stewardship learning objectives, while training the future citizen scientists.

This contribution emphasizes the game’s objectives—sustaining youth engagement, fostering competition and cooperation, scaffolding inquiry through gameplay, and producing usable geo-referenced observations—while inviting participant input on practical design choices that support those goals. Discussion topics include balancing motivation with data quality, classroom workflows for deploying the game, and strategies for scaling participation across schools and communities. The participation aims to generate actionable feedback, co-design improvements, and identify evaluation approaches to validate educational and scientific outcomes, offering a concrete exemplar of how playful design can translate engagement into meaningful environmental contributions.

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I am an Associate Professor at the University of Bologna in Human-Computer Interaction. I explore gamification and games with purpose to engage users in citizen science, with a current focus on biodiversity data collection, and aim to create effective and engaging participatory solutions.

Abstract

I am an Associate Professor at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Bologna, Italy. My background is in Computer Science, and my research focuses on Human-Computer Interaction, particularly on designing innovative technologies for social good that empower people. In this context, I have explored gamification and games with a purpose as strategies to motivate users in collecting and validating data. Currently, I am investigating gamification in a mobile app for biodiversity data collection (photos and audio) in a lagoon. Previously, my work incorporated gamification and games with a purpose to enhance urban accessibility and address other socially relevant topics.

I am eager to participate in the workshop to collaborate with experts and gain insights that can help create effective and engaging gamified citizen science solutions!

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Hi! I am James! You might know me from projects such as CROPS, ProBleu, MICS, BENCHMARKS, and a range of cameo roles.

Abstract

Through my work in the Horizon Europe-funded project BENCHMARKS, I am interested in how citizen science gamification and serious games can aid in relating seamingly abstract issues concerning soil health to people's real-life concerns. In other words, can such an approach be used to forge an understanding on a topic, that whilst is clearly very important to biodiversity, climate mitigation, food security etc., is perhaps harder to link to the general public's everyday concerns.

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Gamification has predominantly been used in citizen science as a way to engage volunteers for long-term engagement. Here, I propose some additional citizen science outcomes that can be supported with the use of gamification.

Abstract

Citizen Science has seen the use of gamification as a way to improve volunteer recruitment and long-term engagement. However, gamification has the potential to impact citizen science beyond simply retaining volunteers. By aligning the game mechanics with the larger goals of the citizen science project, gamification can support additional outcomes, such as fostering pro-environmental behaviour, promoting science literacy, or empowering volunteers.