Beyond Gamification: Games Design as a Playful and Dynamic Methodology and Curatorial Intervention

Key insights

7 takeaways

01
The paper argues that the dominant framing of games in museums as tools for gamification and pedagogy is too narrow, and proposes instead that games design be understood as a playful, dynamic methodology and a curatorial intervention.
02
Prior research has focused mainly on visitors as players, while relatively little attention has been paid to visitors as designers of games about museum collections.
03
Based on two games design interventions in UK museums, the author finds that visitor-created games act as curatorial platforms that add new playful layers of meaning to collections rather than merely reacting to official curation.
04
Visitor-designers invite other visitors to enact new rituals and encounter collections anew, reshaping the museum into a more participatory and dynamic space.
05
The study is qualitative and focused on visitor agency, authorship, and meaning-making, not on quantitative measures of learning or engagement, so it offers no statistical outcome data.
06
The author contends that games let museums incorporate alternative voices and classifications, but warns that instrumentalist and celebratory approaches obscure the expressive and ambiguous nature of games as cultural objects.
07
The paper's epistemological implication is that games design can change how museums represent knowledge and share curatorial authority, positioning it as a contribution to museum studies and games research.

Summary

This paper examines how museums have employed digital games and game design in their engagement and learning programmes, and argues that the prevailing framing of games as tools for gamification and pedagogy is too narrow. Its central thesis is that games design, when visitors are invited to create video games about museum collections, should be understood as a playful and dynamic methodology and a curatorial intervention. Situating this claim within broader debates about museum authority, representation, and the pressure to become more participatory and inclusive, the author contends that games allow museums to incorporate alternative voices and classifications, but that instrumentalist and celebratory approaches tend to obscure the expressive and ambiguous nature of games as cultural objects.

The paper's key argument is that previous research has concentrated on visitors as players, exploring how games enable experiences of historical and archaeological contexts and foster interpretation and agency through play. Relatively little attention has been paid to visitors as designers. Drawing on data from two games design interventions in UK museums, the author argues that visitor-created games act as curatorial platforms that add new playful layers of meaning to collections. These visitor-designers do not simply react to official curation; they also invite other visitors to enact new rituals and encounter collections anew, thereby reshaping the museum into a more participatory and dynamic space.

The study is qualitative and rests on data from two games design interventions conducted in museums in the United Kingdom, with its scope focused on visitor agency, authorship, and meaning-making rather than on quantitative measures of learning or engagement. The paper is positioned as a contribution to museum studies and games research, offering a conceptual reframing of games design in cultural and heritage institutions and drawing attention to its epistemological implications for how museums represent knowledge and share curatorial authority.