Disaster Dynamics: The Hurricane Landfall Game

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Disaster DynamicsThe Hurricane Landfall Game

• Seth McGinnis
• Institute for the Study of Science and
  Environment (ISSE)

Nov. 8, 2005
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Overview
http//swiki.ucar.edu/dd
The Hurricane Landfall Game is a four-player
virtual strategy game about the interaction
between natural disasters and urban planning.
Students who play the game learn about hazard
management through role-playing, negotiation, and
experiencing the sometimes unintended
consequences of their decisions.

• Serious Games
• Educational Objectives
• Design Constraints
• The Game

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Why Serious Games?
http//swiki.ucar.edu/dd

• Engaging
• Experiential Learning
• Structure Matches Content
• Soft Failure
• Topsight
• Practice Surprise

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Educational Objectives
http//swiki.ucar.edu/dd

• Target Audience
• Undergraduates
• Future emergency managers
• Future urban planners
• Distance learning students

• Teaching Goals
• Complex Systems Systems Thinking
• Human-Environment Interactions
• Negotiation Collaboration
• Decision-Making Under Uncertainty
• Importance of Recovery, Big/Long Picture

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Design Constraints
http//swiki.ucar.edu/dd

• Teaching Goals
• Target Audience
• Minimal Requirements
• Multiplayer
• Fun!

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The Game
http//swiki.ucar.edu/dd
A networked virtual strategy boardgame where
players take on different roles in a small town
on the coast. They must negotiate community
responses to hurricanes and other extreme events.
Their land-use decisions are played out over
many years and different situations.

• Gameplay
• Propose Projects
• Negotiate
• Vote

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http//swiki.ucar.edu/dd

• DEMO!