There is a difference between Remarkable and Transformative Serious Games.

There’s a growing number of serious games (games designed to teach, heal, and to build empathy). Many of them are remarkable. They’re engaging. Immersive. Memorable. They might even leave players in awe of the experience. But being remarkable isn’t the same as being  transformative. And for the kind of impact many of these games are aiming for, such as shifts in behavior, mindset, or cross-cultural understanding, remarkable simply isn’t enough.

Remarkable experiences are the ones we talk about at dinner. They leave a strong impression. They make us feel. But those feelings often fade. A transformative experience, on the other hand, is one that sticks with us. It alters our perspective in a sustained and prolonged way. An experience like this is the difference between remembering something fondly… and changing how you move through the world because of it. In the context of serious games, this is the gap we can close.

One of the primary reasons serious games or experiences fall short of real transformation is framing (or rather, the lack of it). Too often, designers rely on the content like a strong story, and mechanics to do the heavy lifting. These are certainly important. Just don’t assume that if a game is built around important topics like trauma, anxiety, or cultural identity, the impact will automatically happen.

Framing is what transforms a good experience into a life-changing one.

Framing begins before the game. It prepares the participant to bring their own lived experience into the space and sets expectations about how personal growth might take place. It continues during the experience, reinforcing the metaphor and giving language to what’s unfolding. And most importantly, it includes the after. This is the part so many games miss: the debrief, the reflection, the integration. Without it, insights fade and players move on. With it, they return months later still rethinking a belief or behavior they once took for granted.

Transformative games can and should be used across sectors like classrooms, therapeutic facilities, and conflict zones. They can address trauma, build resilience, support people living with anxiety, or help foster understanding between displaced communities and host cultures. But transformation doesn’t come from mechanics and story alone – no matter how immersive they seem. It comes from meaningful design choices that recognize the player as an agent of change in their own life, not just a character in a story.

So, the next time you design a game to have a strong impact, you have to ask: Are we aiming to be memorable or are we setting the stage for something more enduring? Are we designing for awe or are we designing for change?

Because the difference between remarkable and transformative is not about complexity or length. It’s about intentional framing. And it’s time we start building serious games seriously.

Guardian Adventures provides consulting and transformative design for therapeutic centers, museum and science centers, summer camps, amusement & attraction industries, and more.

There’s a quiet assumption in many serious (educational or therapeutic) digital games that impact will happen on its own if the game is “immersive” enough. That if players are engaged enough, the lesson will stick. But those of us who work in transformative design know:

In serious games, transformation rarely happens by accident. It happens through careful framing, incorporating lived experience, and reflection.

Live Action Roleplaying (LARP) designers have been crafting meaningful experiences for decades. We’ve learned that the power of roleplay doesn’t lie in the story alone… it lies in how we invite players into it, how we guide them through it, and how we help them make sense of what they experienced once it’s over. That structure (before, during, and after) is where the real magic lives.

Transformative Digital Serious Game Example

Imagine a digital serious game that is designed with this structure in mind. Instead of selecting an avatar where (at most) the player chooses what the avatar is wearing and what they look like, the player instead chooses a character with a detailed backstory from an array of pre-written options they paste together. This character can have real-life emotional challenges like anxiety, abandonment, or fear of failure. But here’s the twist: the player doesn’t play that character. They care for them. Like a conscience, a mentor, or a guiding voice, the player helps that character navigate the story with compassion and insight.

This design reframes the player’s role. They’re not solving puzzles for points, they’re modeling emotional resilience. They’re learning strategies not in spite of the narrative, but through it. And as they guide their character, the transfer between player and story deepens. That’s what we call bleed: When our in-game experiences transfer into our out-of-game life (and vice versa) allowing for a transformative outcome.

And just like in a well-run LARP, the experience ends with debrief. But it’s not an external experience that breaks the flow of the game. It’s an in-game experience like a quiet scene where the character reflects on what they’ve been through and looks ahead and talks with the player about how they have grown. That reflection loop matters. It’s what turns the game time into a transformative experience for the player.

This is just an example. There are any number of other options that can be integrated into a game to help frame it for measurable outcomes. If serious game companies want to build experiences that truly transform, they need to stop thinking only in terms of achievement and start thinking in terms of care. Care for the story, care for the character, and most importantly, care for the player’s personal journey beyond the game. And to get there, they might want to reach out to a transformative designer. Change is what we do for a living.

Guardian Adventures provides consulting and transformative design for museum and science centers, summer camps, amusement & attraction industries, and more.