Gamification isn’t just play—it’s a creative, fun tool to tackle challenges, drive innovation, and reframes how to consider strategy in the water sector.
I like playing strategy games.
In June 2024 I wrote on LinkedIn about how I attended the Northumbrian Water Innovation Festival and participated in a gamification activity around the water industry and how this inspired me to create a serious game prototype that could help the water industry gamify strategy.
Read my Linkedin article: How serious play can help the water industry plan for the future
The idea was to have players make active, strategic decisions about whether they should prioritise on water demand or innovation initiatives.
The first prototype
This prototype took a lot of the ideas from the original version, and captured it into game mechanics using tracks, repairing old infrastructure, addressing climate issues. There was a lot going on.
Sometimes, less is more
Having play-tested the game, I realised it is too unwieldy.
So, much like a sculptor, I decided to cut away; and focused it only on 3 core aspects:
- Fulfilling water demand efficiently (Operations)
- Balancing the books (Finance)
- Tackling climate change through innovation (R&D)
This is what I ended up with:
How does it work?
The game is played over a serious of rounds and players work co-operatively to move water from the reservoir to customers homes in an efficiency puzzle where the nodes of the water system are represented by D4 dice, and represent water throughput.
Customers will pay for supplied water and the players can use the income to focus on near-term threats or invest in R&D for climate change issues that will impact customers in future rounds of the game.
Decisions made in the game will impact consumer trust, shareholder trust, income and climate (which can only be slowed down).
But what about sewage?
Sewage in the sea is a serious concern, and I wanted to try to model this; so players are placed in the situation of whether they should deal with sewage through legal and illegal spills as per this article on the BBC news website: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/explainers-62631320
What happens now?
I’m calling on UK water companies – Northumbrian Water and others – to dive into a unique opportunity. Let’s walk through a round or two of this water industry game prototype and learn how I might improve the game to reflect real world issues and explore the role analog gamification can play in shaping strategy.
This isn’t just about playing a game; it’s about uncovering insights, solving real challenges, and thinking differently about the future of water management.
If you are in the water industry and want to learn more, DM me and lets see what we can do.
By the way, a printable version will be published online in the coming months, so stay tuned!
Are you seeking innovative ways to tackle your business challenges?
Could your business benefit from modelling scenarios through engaging, analog gamification strategies?
If this sparks your interest, I’d love to explore how we can apply gamification to create impactful solutions across industries.
Let’s connect on Linkedin or DM me and let’s start a conversation!