Training games to communicate about Covid-19 with scientific rigor

Writing / Irene Vega

The communication needs derived from the Covid-19 pandemic have favored the development of initiatives dedicated to channeling information to citizens through a variety of actions. The serious games generated through game jam they are an outstanding example. The movement game jam It is fundamentally a meeting, virtual or face-to-face, in which a group of developers decide to develop video games with the premise that the activity is carried out in a short period of time. It adopts the forms and possibilities of the hackathon, but its orientation, instead of the , is the creation of video games.

The study, carried out by a scientific team from the URJC and recently published in the Latin Journal of Social Communication, has evaluated the possibilities of efficient production of serious games in the field of scientific communication on Covid-19, and in the context of production established by the game jam. From a qualitative perspective, a selective search has been carried out for this type of event in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, and those productions whose objective was to report with scientific rigor on aspects related to Covid-19, with a playful communication model. “We have analyzed the production model and then the playful strategy of the three types of video games offered by the sample: based on reaction, recreation and strategy. As the last element of analysis, the gameplay provides a triple vision where the usability of the games especially stands out”, explains Mª Carmen Gálvez, a researcher at the URJC.

The results obtained have shown the planning and investment needs required by the serious games to guarantee their effectiveness as communicative products in the scientific field. “The high investment and production do not necessarily influence the receptivity of the public”, points out the researcher. "One of the main conclusions is that an adequate orientation of audiences and objectives, manage to generate an adequate effective communication strategy in the field of science", she adds.

Both the analysis model of serious games as the data collected (dataset) they are published openly on the Zenodo platform, for their possible reuse in the framework of other studies.

This work has been carried out by Mª del Carmen Gertrudis, Mª Carmen Gálvez, Juan Romero and Manuel Gértrudix within the framework of the project Evolution Clinical, Molecular and Genetic Characterization and Treatment of Post-COVID Symptoms (Persistent COVID) (Ref. LONG-COVID EXP-CM, URJC-CAM REACT-EU), co-financed by the Community of Madrid and the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), as part of the Union's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Consolidated Research Group on Communication and Culture Digital of the King Juan Carlos University cyberimaginary, financed by the Rey Juan Carlos University.