Serious play

According to Gauntlett (2007),[2] "The non-judgmental environment of play, it is claimed, is more likely to foster surprising and innovative ideas" (see Stephenson (1998);[3] Terr (2000);[4] Gee (2004);[5] Kane (2005)[6]).

[7] Serious intent methods can be used as vehicles for engaging teams in the five stages of the design thinking process: empathizing, defining, ideating, prototyping, and testing.

While much of the serious play literature focuses on business,[9][10][11] its benefits are applied in numerous fields, including military,[12] education,[13][14][15] healthcare,[16] psychology,[17] and governance.

[18] Serious play methods can bring together diverse groups of stakeholders/collaborators, and elicit empathy, active listening, reflexivity, and high levels of participation.

For instance, the University of Foreign Military and Cultural Studies, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, uses an array of serious play methods when dealing with complex problems, which they refer to as liberating structures.

Together, these seemingly juxtapose components are able to foster a deeper engagement – also known as a state of flow[24] where participants lose track of time and their inner critique.

Workshops will often use multiple serious play methods to complement each other and allow participants to explore different applicability phases of the challenges they face.