My first stop in Finland was the GamiFIN 2024 conference which was hosted in the pristine landscapes of Lapland. The conference is organised by the Gamification Group from Tampere University.
From learning about games that teach sustainability to networking with gamification enthusiasts and after-conference activities, the GamiFIN conference was a strong start to my study tour. Below, I will be sharing a snapshot of my experience at GamiFIN 2024.
Session Highlights
The conference kicked off with an array of engaging sessions, each offering valuable insights into gamification. The sessions ranged from eSports to games-based education. From promoting green mobility to workshop sessions literally held in the snowy outdoors of Finland.
Inspired by Untitled Goose Game, one presenter showcased a game called Untitled Bee Game where you play as a bee who punishes people who are doing bad things for the environment. These actions include using plastic water bottles or using polluted substances to wash their car. Players learned facts about bees and sustainability which players are quizzed on later. The overall objective
is to dissuade the NPCs (humans) from pursuing certain behaviours. I found it really cool that if correct actions are taken by the player, the virtual environment would change; more flowers would grow in the garden and more fish would swim in the river.
Another session emphasised the importance of teaching critical graph reading skills in students. Especially, in this day and age where information and misinformation are both one click, tap and scroll away. Critical graph reading skills specifically referred to being able to discern when graphs are misleading even when the data presented may be true.
In the graph to the right, it appears that The Times more than doubles the sales of the Daily Telegraph. A more careful look at the numbers shows that it’s only beating the Daily Telegraph by about 10%.
In the game MediaWatch, players take on the role of fact-checkers on the fictional island of Sahramoa, which is home to four distinct villages. Each village plays a part in various environmental crises affecting the island. MediaWatch is an institute established to prevent the spread of misleading information in local news media. Players receive regular reports from the villages and their job is to fact-check the reports. They do this by interpreting multiple types of graphs (e.g., line and bar graphs) and selecting a title that best aligns with the graph. The game aims to inoculate students against misinformation by giving them the skills to differentiate fact from fiction.
Other games which aim to teach students about misinformation include:
https://www.getbadnews.com/books/english/
https://harmonysquare.game/play
https://www.goviralgame.com/en
https://apps.deakin.edu.au/library/dlm/twine/MisinformationGame.html
https://games.abc.net.au/education/interactive-lessons/misinformation-disinformation/
After-Conference Activities
One of the highlights of the conference was the range of after-conference activities that allowed attendees to unwind and connect in a more relaxed setting. I ticked off more than a couple items from my study tour bucket list. In no particular order below:
- ate a Rudolph pizza (yes…it is what you think it is)
- saw the Northern lights
- experienced -20 Celsius weather
- snowboarding down the slopes of Ruka in the evening
- saw an albino reindeer
- rode behind a snow mobile
- went snowshoeing in the Finnish forests
- sauna
Final Thoughts
As I reflect on my conference experience, several key takeaways stand out. Firstly, the relationship of the Finnish people to their forests really stood out to me. One big reason being that the forests are a big part of their lives both physically and metaphorically. Over 70 percent of the country is forest and one in five people are forest owners. That’s definitely a weird concept to me that an ordinary person can just be a forest owner. It made sense that a big focus of the conference was on sustainability but more than that, there was a sense that beyond the economic, practical value of promoting sustainability, there is also an inherent playfulness to forests that should be valued for its own sake. One of the key note speakers, Rob Comber, described his experience with puffballs, mushrooms that release spores when stepped on. He describe the nature around us as very much gamified so long as we choose to see it that way.
Another speaker also emphasised the importance of play for the sake of play. This resonated with me as one of the issues often associated with gamification is the idea of coercion – that gamification is a means to an end – to trick people into doing one thing or another. A chocolate covered broccoli so to speak. I am still trying to reconcile my ideas about this so it was interesting to hear another perspective. Kathrin Gerling emphasised the importance of reflection before and as we build gamified systems. Is what we are building actually beneficial in the short and long term for the groups we are trying to help?
In my role as a teacher, will gamified learning produce short term engagement that ultimately harms my students? I’ve always been a strong believer of loving learning for the sake of learning. Yet gamification seems to be artificially putting a pretty skin on the learning hidden under the surface. The focus on points, badges, and leaderboards might shift students’ attention away from the learning objectives and towards superficial rewards.
On the other hand, you may argue that schools are manufactured learning environments anyway and perhaps gamification returns some of the autonomy and authenticity present in real-world learning. By incorporating game elements such as choice, challenges, rewards, and interactive experiences—educators may be able to create a more engaging and personalised learning environment that mirrors the kind of interactivity and flexibility found outside of the classroom.
More questions and less answers. Hopefully I will have a more cohesive response as I learn more on my study tour.
For now, I hope we can all find it within ourselves to value the broccoli as well as the chocolate.
Loved teaching about misleading graphs, was always one to generate discussions amongst students. And really resonated with your ending quote, perhaps it’s about a moderation between enjoying both the broccoli and chocolate (at the right time)