Purpose

In a context of interconnected environmental changes (climate change and biodiversity loss among others), the agricultural sector and the entire food system are under pressure. This calls for sustainability transitions that are systemic and complex by essence due to the multiple dimensions to be taken into consideration, but also to the diversity of possible pathways (agroecology, bioeconomy, digital and precision farming...). Simultaneously, the use of serious game is growing significantly around the world (Plass et al., 2015, Flood et al., 2018). This is not only a movement around video games as all game modalities are concerned, especially analog games: board games, card games, escape games... (Bayeck, 2020; Rogerson & Gibbs, 2018). The present special session proposal builds on this trend.


In the field of agricultural extension and education, serious games have long been identified as a useful method of horizontal knowledge sharing compared to traditional top-down models (Hernandez-Aguilera et al., 2020). The development and use of such games have gained momentum over the past years as evidenced by numerous publications (for example: Berthet et al., 2016; Dernat et al., 2022; Martin, 2015; Meunier et al., 2022; Ryschawy et al., 2022). Such games aim at helping to better understand complex phenomena, transmitting or sharing knowledge and skills, encouraging the design and experimentation of new ideas and practices, or the adaptation of old ones, support collective decision making, assess systems, practices or actions... In particular, it can be noted that the majority of these games, especially in France, are analogues (Dernat et al., 2021).


However, games in agriculture are still lacking visibility by a large part of the R&D community, as evidenced by their limited use in agricultural extension and education. This session will therefore aim to introduce attendees to serious games applied to sustainability transitions in agriculture and food systems to help them to discover this useful tool for agricultural development.


Format


The session will take place in two dedicated rooms during special sessions
In the first room, each game will have a space (a table and some chairs if needed). Each game creator (or collective) will present his/her game to the interested ESEE conference attendees whenever possible with the game itself, otherwise with a poster or a presentation on a laptop. Collectives specialised in serious games (research teams or firms) will also be able to present their work (development, use or use assessment of serious games).
The second room could be dedicated to game sessions where attendees will have to register in advance. 2 or 3 games could be played at the same time depending on the games and the number of participants. This format will allow attendees to discover and experience the games.
During the special session(s) dedicated to the game, an evaluation questionnaire will allow us to know the level of knowledge of the participants on the games, their intentions and needs to mobilize them and the possible collaborations that could start thanks to the conference.

Attendees wishing to present a game at this special session should email sylvain.dernat@inrae.fr, julie.ryschawy@toulouse-inp.fr and guillaume.martin@inrae.fr with:
- the name and brief description of the game(s) they wish to present (objective of the game; how the game is played; type of game: competitive, cooperative; number and nature of players/facilitators; duration of one game; format: board game, video game, etc.; stage of development: prototype, field-tested game, distributed/marketed game; evaluation y/n and evaluation methods)
- what format(s) of presentation is envisaged (stand or game session or both)
- what are the constraints to anticipate for the exhibition of the game(s) (need for a lot of space? Do you need an internet access? A PC, a video projector...)
Everything that needs to be anticipated for the exhibition to be done in the best conditions.