Sea level game creates climate awareness among young people

Can a board game help young people better understand sea level rise? Over the past two years, Nieske Vergunst, a researcher at Utrecht University’s Freudenthal Institute, explored this question. She developed the Sea Level Game, tested it with various youth groups, and analyzed its impact. The findings? After playing the game, participants felt more aware

dr. Nieske Vergunst
18-03-2025 // Publications // Games and Sustainability, Games Beyond Entertainment

Taking Perspectives with Game Design: Teachers wanted for pilot!

The participants of the Playing Perspectives workshop at the Onderwijsfestival at Utrecht University are fully engaged in conversation. The striking photo on the table is what they’re talking about. Because what do you see in this photo? What stands out and what is your interpretation? This turns out to be quite different for each participant.

dr. Jasper van Vught
12-03-2025 // Events, Insights, News // Games Beyond Entertainment

A new game that opens up your mind

Have you ever received a message from someone who’s number is not in your phone? We’ve all been in that situation before, trying to guess who the mystery sender is. This all-too-common situation is one of three starting points of Open Mind, a creative ‘whodonnit’-type educational game. Players have to talk to various characters –

Editorial Team
31-01-2025 // Insights, Longread, News // Games Beyond Entertainment

New digital escape room MedievalMe brings the Middle Ages to life

How do you spark excitement for medieval history in secondary school students? Sanne Frequin, art historian and Assistant Professor at Utrecht University, has the answer: MedievalMe. This innovative Dutch serious game immerses students in the medieval worldview.

Utrecht University news site
14-01-2025 // News // Games Beyond Entertainment

Shape2Gether: Experiencing the Malta summer school

Hello again! We are five student from Utrecht University who for the past few months have been participating in the Erasmus+ Project Shape2Gether, an initiative to teach students how to communicate complex information relating to climate change using new media technologies. This piece is a retrospective of the second ‘summer school’ on the islands of Malta.

29-11-2024 // Events // Games and Sustainability, Games Beyond Entertainment

Game Research @Dutch DiGRA 2024 Symposium

On November 21, game scholars from all over The Netherlands and well beyond gathered at Erasmus University for the Dutch DiGRA 2024 Symposium. Many researchers from Utrecht presented their projects.

Editorial Team
22-11-2024 // Events // Games and Sustainability, Games Beyond Entertainment, Play Research

Game Research @CHI PLAY 2024!

The Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play (CHI PLAY) was recently held in Tampere, Finland. Our researchers were strongly involved in the organization (serving as papers chair, student volunteer chair, and workshop organizers) and presented a variety of contributions.

Editorial Team
25-10-2024 // Events, Insights // Ethics of Play, Game Technology and AI, Games Beyond Entertainment, Multi theme, Player Research and Psychology, Social Games and Play

Meet the Makers: Roos Groothuizen

The Transmission in Motion research group is organizing another Meet the Maker event, this time focusing on media artist Roos Groothuizen who works primarily with playful media.

Editorial Team
17-10-2024 // Events, News // Extended Realities (AR/VR/XR), Games Beyond Entertainment

Article: Digital literacy games: a systematic literature review

Frontiers in Communication journal has published the open access article "Digital literacy games: a systematic literature review", authored by the team behind the Digital Literacy Games KIEM GO-CI grant project, a collaboration between Erasmus University and Utrecht University.

Editorial Team
10-10-2024 // Publications // Games Beyond Entertainment

CFP: Dutch DiGRA 2024 Symposium

Our colleagues at Erasmus University are hosting a Symposium for the Dutch chapter of the Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA). The full CFP should prove interesting for all game researchers at UU.

Editorial Team
21-08-2024 // Events // Criticism and Analysis, Games and Sustainability, Games Beyond Entertainment, Multi theme