Working With System Dynamics

The game our team is working on developing is on the topic of work-life balance and career. In the game, the players take roles as individual employees that seek to excel in career but at the same time, keep a good work-life balance by not draining their psychological and physical health too much.

At this moment, our game is trying to teach the system of the workplace, how in general career/work culture works in the industry and we are trying to teach how much hard it is for one to balance work and life.

The game will take around quick 5 rounds (or more) representing a span of year(s). At the beginning of the game, each player receives his/her objective of the game and the goal of each round is to get closer to that objective so that at the end of the game, the player reaches his/her goal. At each round, each player will have to make a decision of performing or not performing certain work/project. Doing so affects the player’s salary, career, psychological, and physical health. At the end of each round, player learns how their choice has affected their above properties. In this sense, each round serves as a loop where the player has a mental model of how project/work would affect their property, make a decision by choosing to do the project or not, apply and see the result at the end of the round, get feedback, and update the mental model in the next round. We have yet to discuss the details in each round (rules, control, etc.)

The arc is similar to the loop, but at the end of last round, players will see their result, whether they have reached their objective or not, and will learn the lessons based on their choices.