M2 internship: Design and development of the Transkey game

« Playing with biophysical flows to facilitate territorial transitions »

Context

One of the team’s emerging lines of research aims to contribute to the design, evaluation and debate on socio-technical alternatives for the future (e.g. 2050). Biophysical accounting methods (materials, energy, land use, etc.) provide an analytical grid that gives indications of the sustainability of alternatives (according to sound sustainability and ecological economics frameworks) [4,8,9]. These tools are relevant for highlighting the systemic effects on resources and the major pressures to be taken into account for territorial transformations (and in particular dependencies, competition in the use of resources and environmental footprints) [2,6].

However, these models are not enough. First of all, they are still expert models. And yet, for alternatives to emerge in a democratic way, it is necessary to think about participative methods to enable them to be appropriated. In addition, they focus on the biophysical organisation, without taking into account the network of players and the governance associated with the flows.

To meet this need, we want to explicitly integrate the biophysical organisation and modelling of flows, as well as the associated social control, into a tool widely used in participatory processes aimed at transforming territories: the game [1,3,5,7]. Our aim here is to create a management game (with a digital and board version), based on the manipulation of flows and the transformation of resources, in a context of flow governance with:

• a biophysical organisation,
• a network of players and governance of this organisation,
• associated social choices.

This work was launched with the production of an initial single-player digital version in which participants choose a set of activities [3]. These activities use and produce resources that have an impact on the area. An experiment on the cognitive and normative changes associated with this game is currently underway.

Description

General description

We are proposing a work placement in pairs (the work placement corresponding to this offer, focused on design and development; a second work placement focused on modelling, testing and fieldwork) to continue the development of this game along 4 lines:

• Reinforce the parallel between games and the biophysical organisation of society. The current game proposes the management of flows via the installation of activities only. The organisation of these flows remains simple and could be made more complex.
  • In particular, it would be a good idea to reinforce the concept of the resource stock, which is currently very weak. From one round to the next, all the resources produced and not consumed by the players are lost, as if the system were starting from scratch. We would like to add a notion of stock to link the different rounds, thus introducing a temporal dimension into the game.
  • In addition, the game’s outputs are currently employment, pollution and biodiversity. We have not introduced a looping phenomenon, in which the outputs of the system are in fact also inputs, and employment, pollution and biodiversity are not prerequisites for setting up activities. In reality, it is clear that feedback loops do exist. Although not as high a priority as introducing a temporal dimension into the game, it would be interesting to think about both the modelling and the design of game components that allow these feedbacks to be played out.
• Introduce player networks and flow governance into the game. Although it is currently a single-player game, we hope that it can be played by more than one player.
  • Initially, the idea would simply be to ‘copy’ the existing version so that it could be played simultaneously by different people, allowing resources to be exchanged. The aim will then be to test how the different ways of understanding the game interact with each other.
  • We would then like to introduce asymmetry by giving roles to the players: certain resources (stock and flow) are controlled by certain players only. A balance of power is then introduced, allowing negotiations in the collective management of resources.
  • Although not a priority in this work, the management of transparency between players could finally be a parameter for experimentation to understand how total or partial information influences relations between players and their relationship to the game.

• Visualise the flow diagram / biophysical organisation of the game during play. The aim of developing the Transkey game is to gain a better understanding of how citizens perceive flow diagrams, to make it easier for them to learn how to use these tools and to understand how they can be used as a support for consultation and decision-making to transform territories. The current game does not provide any representation of the resource exchanges that take place during the game. It would therefore be necessary to add some, at different levels:
  • come up with a design that shows how resources move and change from one activity to another,
  • build a Sankey diagram (example on Open-Sankey) updated live according to the game choices,
  • think about the design associated with this visualisation in both the digital and physical versions of the game.

• Generalise the design of the game. For the moment, the game has been designed in the context of a consultation in a mountain tourism region. However, we would like to apply its principles more widely, during consultations in other areas, on different issues. Finally, we want to take a step back from current design and think about the game in a generic way, with an adaptable design.

The development of these three avenues should be considered both for a digital version of the game and for a material version, played with the help of counters. This development will be accompanied by regular testing, both at university and outside it, as well as directly in the fields where the research team is working together.

Description of the topic

The description given here covers two different internship subjects (see above). Although they require different work and skills, the two trainees will work largely in pairs.

Proposed internship topic: IT design and development

This subject will focus more on computer design and development. First of all, it will be a question of transforming the model to be played into game rules, remaining faithful to the experience to be given to the players while at the same time making the experience more fun (which rules to introduce to induce a balanced temporal dimension to the game, how to frame the relationships between players, etc.). This design aspect will also be present in the exercise to visualise the biophysical organisation put in place by the players during a game. This design will have to be thought out for both the hardware and digital versions of the game. Finally, a great deal of IT development work will be needed to develop the digital version of the game (Python, SimPy, Pygame, YAML). Support for modelling and experimentation may also be required from time to time during the course.

Subject of the other student’s internship: Modelling and experimentation

This subject will focus more on modelling work, making it possible to extract from the concepts of biophysical organisation and stakeholder networks the important elements that need to be taken into account in order to propose a model to be used (what introduction of a relevant temporal dimension, what modelling of the relationships between stakeholders, what aspects to emphasise in the visualisation of the data, etc.). Rigorous work will be required to clarify the working hypotheses and modelling choices. The experimental framework of the game will also need to be designed, enabling the hypotheses for understanding and using these models of biophysical organisation and stakeholder networks to be tested against the modelling choices made. Participation in the design and IT development of the game may also be required from time to time during the course.

Supervision, application, start of internship

This work will be mainly supervised by Mathilde Boissier (STEEP team, INRIA Grenoble) with support from Roger Pissard (research engineer, INRIA Grenoble), Peter Sturm (STEEP team, INRIA Grenoble) and Nils Ferrand (G-EAU team Inrae Montpellier and STEEP INRIA Grenoble, participation engineering).

To apply for one of the two subjects, send an email to mathilde.boissier@free.fr and peter.sturm@inria.fr, with your CV and a covering letter.

Each placement will start at the beginning of March and last between 4 and 6 months.

The subjects are largely interdisciplinary and go beyond the areas of expertise acquired in your studies. This is normal and we know it. Don’t hesitate to apply!

Bibliography

Bibliography of the team

1. Abrami G., Ferrand N., Ducrot R., et al.: Paper and pebbles simulations and modelling for the governance of socio-environmental systems: a review of 8 years of experimenting with the Wat-AGame toolkit. Proceedings of the 8th International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software, pp. 851 (2016).
2. Boissier M., Mangeot M., Jost V., Viénot L.: Designing Serious Games to understand the challenges of the Anthropocene, ICED 2023 24th International Conference on Engineering Design, Bordeaux (2023). hal-03975671
3. Boissier M., Ferrand N., Krieger E., et al.: Playing with flows in transition territories, Simulation and Gaming for Social and Environmental Transitions.: Proceedings of the 54th Conference of the International Simulation and Gaming Association (2023). hal-04014398
4. Courtonne J.Y., Alapetite J., Longaretti P.Y., et al.: Downscaling material flow analysis: The case of the cereal supply chain in France, Ecological Economics 118, 67–80 (2015).
5. Ferrand N., Farolfi S., Abrami G., Du Toit D.: WAT-A-GAME: sharing water and policies in your own basin. 40th Annual Conference, Int. Simulation And Gaming Association, pp. 17 (2009). hal-01355501
6. Viénot L.: Démonstrateurs pour l’analyse d’alternatives socio-techniques, Mémoire M2, École Polytechnique (2022) https://inria.hal.science/hal-03867864

External bibliography

7. Becu N.: Les courants d’influence et la pratique de la simulation participative: contours, design et contributions aux changements sociétaux et organisationnels dans les territoires, HDR, La Rochelle Université (2020).
8. Binder C.R.: From material flow analysis to material flow management Part I: social sciences modeling approaches coupled to MFA. Journal of Cleaner Production 15(17), 1596–1604 (2007).
9. Gabriel A.W., Madelrieux S., Lescoat P.: A review of socio-economic metabolism representations and their links to action: Cases in agri-food studies. Ecological Economics 178, 106765 (2020).