Games made at CeOS rock the One Ocean Science Congress in Nice

Nice, Côte D’Azur, France in early June 2025. 

The center of  the universe when it comes to oceans research & politics. Maybe. Probably. The One Ocean Science Conference is setting the scene for the following UNOC 3. 

Dr. Frederike Tirre, Dr. Hans Sloterdijk and Dr. Rudi Voss from the Center for Ocean and Society, in collaboration with the European project partners of the A-AAGORA research project, have developed an innovative digital mini-game with the aim of mobilizing the public, informing citizens and taking action around coastal restoration and protection in the example regions of Norway, Ireland and Portugal. The game was realized as part of the EU Horizon 2021-funded research project A-AAGORA in close collaboration with the designer Julia Löwe and the software company naymspace (Dennis Nissen).

The mini-game was presented at the One Ocean Science Conference in Nice in the form of a 3D poster.

The poster presentation yielded a lot of interest, and many fruitful discussions evolved. This success was at least partly supported by 3D-objects fitted to the poster in combination with small 3D-printed giveaways holding a NFC tag to link users to the game’s webpage. The business card 2.0. 

How can regional stakeholders and citizens be involved in important future decision-making processes on coastal protection? The game is a powerful approach to foster stakeholder involvement, capacity building, and knowledge exchange. It gives local actors a voice, raises public awareness, and contributes to education and decision-making. 

Within the game, the player has to solve different fictional cases, which all threaten specific and real-world aspects of the coastal socio-ecological system of the demonstrator regions. The quest is to find and combine the unique skills of members of the community in order to come up with an innovative solution. 

The storylines were developed in co-creation using a living lab approach. They highlight in a humoristic and entertaining way the importance of co-operation of different stakeholders to reach successful and widely accepted solutions. Furthermore, the stories provide background information on real-world ecological challenges within the socio-cultural settings of the regions. To this end, graphics of the game mirror local conditions, including e.g., typical coastlines and the flora and fauna that live there. 

All cases are available in English, Portuguese, Norwegian, French and German. The game is designed to best work on mobile devices like mobile phones or tablets.  

The game is open-access and new cases can easily be developed for other regions. Consequently, it may serve as a lighthouse project that can be adapted and implemented elsewhere. The aim is to further develop and upscale the game for other coastal regions and put it into use there.