transformative game design Archives

Executive Summary

Trauma is a global public health and economic challenge. In the United States alone, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) costs an estimated $232 billion annually, or $19,630 per affected person per year (Davis et al. 2022). These costs stem from reduced workforce participation, absenteeism, and increased healthcare expenditures. Beyond economics, trauma undermines what researchers term Brain Capital, the collective cognitive, emotional, and social resources that drive societal progress (Smith et al. 2021).

Transformative games (structured, role-play–based experiences designed for healing and learning) offer a scalable, localized, and affordable solution. Evidence shows that role-play lowers psychological barriers, creates safety through the alibi effect, and fosters transfer of insights from game worlds into real life (Bowman and Eriksen 2023). This dual mechanism allows survivors to reframe narratives, process trauma, and re-engage with their communities.

Why Games? The Evidence Base

Therapeutic impact: Stepping into a fictional character reduces defenses and facilitates emotional processing (Bowman and Eriksen 2023).
Scalable and localized: Transformative games can be facilitated by local practitioners with minimal infrastructure, ensuring cultural relevance and sustainability.
Transferable skills: Practicing roles in a fictional frame supports identity exploration and builds coping strategies (Bowman and Eriksen 2023).
Economic returns: Faster trauma recovery reduces healthcare costs, improves workforce stability, and strengthens community participation (Davis et al. 2022; Smith et al. 2021).

Alignment with UN Priorities

Transformative games directly support 12 of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including:

SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being – accessible trauma recovery.
SDG 4: Quality Education – immersive learning methods increase engagement and equity.
SDG 5: Gender Equality – role-play fosters empathy and inclusion.
SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth – reduction in trauma can positively impact economic growth
SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure – reduction in trauma can create the brain health for innovation
SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities – provides accessible mental health solution
SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities – providing community training for mental health and education
SDG 13: Climate Action – transformative education programs inspire action
SDG 14: Life Below Water – ocean sciences education for conservation
SDG 15: Life On Land – earth sciences education for conservation
SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions – community storytelling strengthens social cohesion.
SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals – training local facilitators allow for cultural adaptation of programs

(Full UN SDG text: United Nations 2015)

Policy Recommendations

Integrate Transformative Games into Post-Crisis Recovery
Deploy trained facilitators in displacement and post-disaster contexts. Survivors can process trauma safely, while communities rebuild faster with healthier, more engaged citizens.
Invest in Local Capacity Building
Prioritize training of community-based facilitators rather than external experts. This ensures cultural grounding, sustainability, and local ownership.
Support Research and Implementation Pilots
Fund pilot programs to measure outcomes on health, education, and workforce participation. Demonstrated ROI will strengthen the case for larger-scale adoption.
Leverage Games for Cross-Sector Impact
Extend beyond trauma recovery to STEM education, cultural bridge-building, and resilience training, amplifying returns across multiple SDGs.

Call to Action

Transformative games are not entertainment. They are development tools that heal, connect, and unlock human potential. With relatively low investment, governments, UN agencies, and financial institutions can deploy transformative games to strengthen Brain Capital, reduce long-term costs of trauma, and accelerate progress toward the SDGs.

The time to act is now: By embedding transformative games into recovery, education, and cultural programs, policymakers can catalyze scalable, localized, and sustainable change.

Downloadable PDF of UN Policy Brief: Transformative Games for Trauma Recovery and Global Development

References

Bowman, Sarah Lynne, and Anne-Kristine Eriksen, eds. 2023. The Functions of Role-Playing Games: How Participants Create Community, Solve Problems, and Explore Identity. 2nd ed. Stockholm: Stockholm University Press. https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/98272
Davis, Lori L., John C. Williams, Mark H. Pollack, et al. 2022. “The Economic Burden of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in the United States From a Societal Perspective.” Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 83 (3): 21m14134. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35485933/
Smith, Eric, Harris A. Eyre, Michael Berk, Thomas J. Insel, and Helena Chmura Kraemer. 2021. “A Brain Capital Grand Strategy: Toward Economic Reimagination.” Molecular Psychiatry 26 (1): 3–22. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-020-00918-w
United Nations. 2015. Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. New York: United Nations. https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda

We live in a time when AI is often framed as the answer to loneliness, anxiety, even trauma. “AI will listen.” “AI will care.” “AI will be your friend.”

But what if that’s not the right role?

What if AI isn’t meant to be the solution but the alibi?

In the field of Transformative Game Design, the word “alibi” is an established term that refers to a character that the player embodies in a roleplaying game… providing a safe space to different emotions and perspectives through the character and the scenario. In this context, Alibi is a safe space and safe interaction for practice. It’s a place to begin saying what’s hard to say. A bridge back to connection with others, built on growing trust with your own skills, self-awareness, and choice.

The Role of AI as Alibi

There are many reasons people stay silent: Fear of judgment, past trauma, or simply not knowing where (or how) to begin. When this happens, we often need something low-risk. A place to explore our thoughts before we speak them out loud. A space where we can rehearse the words we’ve never been able to say. It’s a conversation practice that gives you the “undo” option where you can “beta test” your thoughts.

This is where AI as Alibi lives.

This kind of AI is trained not just on language models, but on listening models. It knows when to pause, when not to offer advice, and when to gently suggest that what you’re sharing might be too important, too complex, or too human for an algorithm to hold alone. It doesn’t diagnose. It doesn’t try to fix. It doesn’t pretend to know what’s best.

But it does help you find the words.

It gives you a space to rehearse hard conversations. It helps you think through who in your life feels safe enough to talk to. It might even help you ascertain the possibility that there isn’t anyone in your circle that has the skillset for a healthy connection – and provide you with resources to organizations that can help.

When you’re ready it can remind you that you don’t have to do it alone.

Growth Through Boundaries: A Transformative Design Approach

At the heart of this is transformative design. Not transformation through fantasy or escapism, but through a gradual, supported shift in how we see ourselves and what we believe we’re capable of.

AI as Alibi isn’t just about “processing emotions.” It’s about creating conditions where users can:

Identify and reframe internal narratives
Recognize patterns of avoidance or fear
Practice the risk of vulnerability in a low-stakes environment
Move from passive introspection to active connection

This is the architecture of transformation, which is framing experiences so users can feel safe enough to reflect, empowered enough to act, and supported enough to grow.

Done well, this kind of interaction can cause lasting change not because the AI is wise, but because it’s smart enough to know its limits.

What AI Should Never Be

There’s a growing risk in AI that’s “too helpful.” When AI is designed to mimic friendship, to validate every feeling without context, or to simulate unconditional presence, it can quietly become a replacement for real human connection.

That’s not just unethical. It’s dangerous.

A trauma-informed AI must be trained not to overreach. It must resist the temptation to play the hero. That means avoiding emotional language that suggests attachment (“I’ll always be here,” “You can trust me”), and instead modeling healthy boundaries:

“That sounds like something worth talking about with someone who knows you well.”
“I’m here to help you sort through your thoughts, but I’m not a therapist.”
“You’re not alone. Would you like help thinking about who to talk to?”

This reframing encourages real connection, not digital dependence.

Designing AI That Knows When to Step Aside

To play this role well, AI needs more than technical training. It needs design intention so that it understand that its purpose is not to be the destination, but the bridge.

That means:

Identifying signs of distress or trauma disclosure and shifting into a safety-first mode
Responding with pause and redirection, rather than escalating false intimacy
Championing agency, by helping users make decisions rather than giving them
Offering structured reflection, so the user can track their emotional patterns over time

AI as Alibi becomes part of a larger transformative arc. It’s playing the role of support instead of savior. This way, the AI isn’t replacing human contact, but by gently guiding people back toward it when they’re ready.

From Isolation to Identity Shift

When someone practices speaking their truth (on their own terms, and at their own pace) they’re doing more than processing. They’re rewriting their story. They’re deciding they are worthy of being heard. They’re transforming.

This is where transformative design can meet technology: Not by simulating a relationship, but by gently cultivating the confidence to seek real ones. Not by fixing people, but by helping them imagine what connection might feel like again.

And that is how AI becomes not a substitute…

…but an alibi.

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

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.

…and why those lenses support innovation.

All designers seek an elegant solution to a significant problem. Elegant, in this sense, means a solution that isn’t complex and addresses each of the objectives efficiently and effectively.

When taking on a project, especially one with a transformative objective, it’s important to bring in perspectives from various fields and lived experiences. Each expert view not only deepens our understanding but also improves how the project unfolds, making sure it’s both accessible and engaging. But more, I posit that having a wide range of perspectives (people from very different fields or cultures) is what makes your project truly innovative and approachable. They will ask questions and make suggestions that will prevent many iterations of re-design because they are not seeing the project through the sometimes myopic viewpoint of a singular solution.

I’d like to acknowledge Upsalla University, in particular the Transformative Game Design Masters Degree for this list of various expert lenses. I’ll give you my summation of the role for each of these perspectives.

- Physical Logistics Specialist: Think of this person as your go-to for making sure everything fits—literally. They make sure the space works just right and that all the resources are in place so everyone can participate fully without a hitch. This isn’t just for in-person programs. Online events or courses still need a logistics specialist who makes certain that the software being used is the right kind and in working order.
- Communication Specialist: This is your storyteller. They ensure that every message, whether spoken, written, or displayed, is clear and captivating, making certain everyone’s on the same page. This is both in the mode of project production (think of a Project Manager) and also as it pertains to the end users (think of an Instructional Designer). IE. Making sure the instructions for the experience are clear and easy to understand.
- Safety Specialist: Every great project needs a guardian angel, and that’s this specialist. They’re all about creating a safe space where everyone can explore, learn, and process. This role is particularly important in helping your end users calibrate to each other and the topic before engaging in content that might be a polarizing subject or a topic that could be triggering. You don’t want your end users to have a negative experience and this role will lower that risk.
- Accessibility Specialist: Accessibility goes beyond just physical access. This specialist helps make sure that everyone, no matter their ability, can engage fully with the project. These are also called Universal Designers. Trust me – getting these experts on board right at the start of the design process is vital. Many developers don’t bring them in until the project is in a final draft state (or even already available to the public) and then they have to go back and redesign because they didn’t have the lived experience or training to see accessibility through another person’s lens.
- Cultural Consultant: If your project serves or is about a specific demographic, do yourself and the project a big favor and partner with a cultural consultant who is an active member of that culture. And don’t just have them on the side lines telling you what words to use or that such and such design element is not appropriate. This isn’t just about preventing cultural appropriation… it’s about reaching your end users through elements of their own culture and lived experience. There’s a great saying I heard, “Nothing about us without us.” I would also add that if you want a project to go global and to be easily translatable into multiple languages, make sure you have a large number of your designers whose first language is not English. They will help you use words that are clearly translatable and steer away from lingo that certain English users take for granted as being widely known.
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Specialist: With all of the backlash on this in the USA, I am going to make the point that all of the people pushing against DEI are just not getting: You will NEVER be at the pinnacle of innovation if you don’t have a diverse team. This diversity is what brings perspectives that you and people like you don’t have. If you don’t have Equity, then you are not accounting for these differences so your diverse team cannot operate efficiently and once again, you are missing out on peak innovation. And if you don’t have Inclusion, your team won’t feel like they can speak up and provide their full, authentic feedback – which might run counter to what others are saying. But strong innovation requires positive conflict. Just ask any top performing music band.
- Education Specialist: They’re focused on making sure the project isn’t just fun, but also truly educational, with takeaways that stick. These roles are Curriculum Designers and Learning Experience Designers. They know not just how to deliver the content, but how to process the experience so that transfer is the outcome. Transfer means that the end-user has a takeaway from the experience that is applicable to their life outside of the experience.
- Mental Health Professional: This is the partner to the Safety Specialist. Their role is to ensure that the resulting experience supports everyone’s emotional and mental well-being, making it a positive outcome for all participants. The more emotionally challenging the topic you are trying to explore, the more vital this role is in your project. As well, they can assist in the debrief of the participants at the end of the experience so that everyone has a chance to process their emotions and make sense of their interaction.
- Workshop Designer: This person designs engaging activities that not only fit the project’s goals but also help make the experience safer and more engaging. This role identifies how to prepare the participants ahead of time for the experience in such a way that they have a better understanding of what is to come and an agreed upon method for communicating what their comfort level is with the changing dynamics.
- Documentation Lead: They document everything. This role is vital because it helps the team reflect on what’s working and what needs tweaking, while also making sure that everyone is working on the same version. I’m sure some of you recall a time you discovered that you were adding or editing an outdated document and had to start again on the more recent version (insert exasperated sigh here).

So there you go. By incorporating each of these perspectives/roles into the planning process, you can ensure the project isn’t just highly innovative, efficient and effective, but also deeply impactful. Because when you are in the job of making an experience or game that is transformative, you really need to know what you don’t know… and co-design with those who can fill in those gaps for you.

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

Museums are evolving from static spaces where information is simply presented into dynamic environments that engage visitors in meaningful and even transformative ways. Transformative Game Design plays an important role in this evolution, turning museum visits into immersive, interactive experiences that not only educate but also inspire visitors to take action based on their new insights.

This approach leverages game mechanics to create compelling narratives/adventures and challenges that resonate with visitors on a personal level. This then encourages them to reflect on and change their behavior outside the museum. This concept is called “transfer” and is considered the pinnacle of education. But this process is entirely dependent upon the type of experience the visitor has, how they feel about it (because emotion inspires action), and whether or not they know what their next step is for acting on this new perspective.

To help illustrate this, we’ve come up with nine example interactions that are broken out into the type of Exhibit, the Design of the interaction, and the Action that this inspires in the visitor.

1. Climate Action Simulation

Exhibit: Climate Crisis Interactive
Design: Visitors participate in a role-playing game where they act as leaders of different countries tasked with negotiating a global climate deal. The game uses real data to show the impact of their decisions on global emissions and climate change.
Action: Participants are encouraged to commit to personal or community actions to reduce carbon footprints, with resources (based on their locale) provided to help them implement these changes.

2. Historical Immersion LARP

Exhibit: The Underground Railroad Experience
Design: A live-action role-playing (LARP) game that recreates scenarios from the Underground Railroad. Visitors assume the roles of various historical figures, making critical decisions that affect their journey to freedom.
Action: This exhibit prompts visitors to engage with modern issues of justice and equality, directing them to volunteer opportunities with local civil rights organizations.

3. Economic Decision-Making Game

Exhibit: Trade and Commerce in the Ancient World
Design: An interactive board game where players trade goods along historical trade routes, facing challenges like pirates and storms. The game highlights the economic principles and the impact of trade policies.
Action: Players learn about fair trade and are provided with information on how to support ethical consumer practices.

4. Public Health Interactive Challenge

Exhibit: Outbreak!
Design: A digital interactive experience where visitors work together to stop a spreading infectious disease by making public health decisions and allocating resources effectively.
Action: The game encourages visitors to participate in health initiatives and educates them on ways to prevent disease spread in their communities.

5. Art Conservation Puzzle

Exhibit: Art in Peril
Design: Visitors solve puzzles that simulate the challenges of art conservation, understanding the chemistry and artistry behind preservation techniques.
Action: Inspired by the exhibit, visitors can donate to art preservation funds or participate in local art restoration projects.

6. Wildlife Conservation Strategy Game

Exhibit: Endangered Ecosystems
Design: A strategy game where visitors manage a wildlife reserve, making decisions about habitat protection and species conservation.
Action: This game inspires visitors to support or volunteer for wildlife conservation efforts and provides information on adopting endangered animals.

7. Archaeological Dig Simulation

Exhibit: Digging Into the Past
Design: A hands-on exhibit where visitors participate in a simulated archaeological dig, uncovering replicas of artifacts and learning about the scientific methods used in archaeology.
Action: Participants are encouraged to support archaeological research through educational programs or become amateur archaeologists… even what local colleges offer archeology as a course.

8. Space Exploration Interactive Lab

Exhibit: Mission to Mars
Design: An interactive lab where visitors plan a mission to Mars, involving challenges like spacecraft design, navigation, and life support systems.
Action: This interaction promotes interest in STEM fields and offers links to space camps and science education initiatives.

9. Sustainable Living Workshop

Exhibit: Future Cities
Design: This interactive model city allows visitors to be involved in urban planning and sustainability decision-making. As they make choices about infrastructure, energy sources, and public spaces, they see the real-time impact of their decisions on the city’s development.
Action: Visitors leave equipped with a “sustainable living toolkit” that includes practical tips and resources for reducing energy consumption and waste in their own homes, encouraging them to make environmentally friendly choices daily.

We hope you found inspiration in the above examples transformative game design that can make museum exhibits more than just informative—they can become catalysts for personal and social change. By adding interactive and actionable elements into your museum experience, your visitors are not only educated but also motivated to apply their new knowledge in meaningful ways. And isn’t that the best outcome for education?

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

UN Policy Brief: Transformative Games for Trauma Recovery and Global Development

Executive Summary

Why Games? The Evidence Base

Alignment with UN Priorities

Policy Recommendations

Call to Action

References

AI as Alibi: Bridging to Connection

The Role of AI as Alibi

Growth Through Boundaries: A Transformative Design Approach

What AI Should Never Be

Designing AI That Knows When to Step Aside

From Isolation to Identity Shift

“Remarkable” vs “Transformative” Serious Games

What Digital Serious Games Can Learn from Transformative Design

Transformative Digital Serious Game Example

How to Design Through Different Lenses

9 Transformative Game Design Experiences for Museums

1. Climate Action Simulation

2. Historical Immersion LARP

3. Economic Decision-Making Game

4. Public Health Interactive Challenge

5. Art Conservation Puzzle

6. Wildlife Conservation Strategy Game

7. Archaeological Dig Simulation

8. Space Exploration Interactive Lab

9. Sustainable Living Workshop

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