Examples of game materials and service sheet from the service game 

Contexts in source publication

Context 1

... ICT Service Design Game consists of three successive games that should be played as a set. Considering the practical constraints on stakeholders attending the games, our game duration is limited to about one to two hours. A game is played by a team of three to five participants with different backgrounds. The duration of each game largely depends on the game workshop structure. Typically it takes 1.5 days in total, where half a day is allocated to each game. A game framework is constructed on a fictitious world- view with a goal and rules forming restrictions similar to conventional game structures [12,13]. There are three main rules: (1) keep your turn (never skip your turn), (2) respect time limits, and (3) play based on the data provided. During the game, facilitators ensure that the stakeholders follow the rules. Due to the space limitation, the introduction to the game below will be minimal. Note that more detailed processes and practical cases can be inspected in other references (cf. [8,9]). Game materials are prepared based on real-world data from two main sources: ethno- graphic-inspired responses of end-users and technology seeds. The data are typically collected from an ethnographical study of a couple of potential users. The focus of the observations is usually ICT aspects such as usage and attitudes toward specific activities or systems. Ethnographical data are usually collected in house interiors since the game is targeted, so far, at the creation of ICT home services. Based on the collected materials, tools for the three games such as technology cards are prepared. Technology cards are busi- ness-card-sized picture cards (e.g. see Fig. 1) showing technology seeds from research labs. Although the game provides a fictitious world space, the game tools, such as cards, pieces, and videos, are deeply rooted in the real challenges and needs of end-users and actual tech- nology seeds from a research institution. Next we describe the three games briefly. The User Game. The first game is a user game. The objective of the user game is to create a fictitious user image -a persona -by constructing a person's story based on real target-user data collected from the field. The game tools are the video clips and moment cards, which show moments of the equivalent video clips taken from the field. The game starts with the cards being placed on the table. The first player then picks five cards and watches the associated 30 s video clips together with the group members. After watching the five videos, the first player makes up a story based on the cards he or she has selected. Then, he or she places all five cards on the table in order and writes a title on a sticky note reflecting the needs disclosed by the story. The next player takes four other cards and overlaps his or her story with the previous one, meaning that the second player must use at least one card already placed on the table in the previous turn. The game is over when all of the cards have been used or all of the team members agree that no new stories can be created. Finally, the team fills out a persona sheet based on the stories made up. The persona sheet (Fig. 2) holds a few details such as name, age, characteristics, family structure, job/income, living area, hobby, and attitudes toward things related to ICT services. Then, the team members describe the persona needs in turn and classify these needs into groups. Lastly, they prioritize the persona needs and list them in order. The Service Game. The objective of the service game is to design ICT services using future technology for the persona created in the user game. In this game, technology cards and the needs list are used as game tools (Fig. 1). Technology cards are a collection of core technologies, devices, existing services, and market domains. The game starts with the technology cards being placed face-down on the ...

Context 2

... ICT Service Design Game consists of three successive games that should be played as a set. Considering the practical constraints on stakeholders attending the games, our game duration is limited to about one to two hours. A game is played by a team of three to five participants with different backgrounds. The duration of each game largely depends on the game workshop structure. Typically it takes 1.5 days in total, where half a day is allocated to each game. A game framework is constructed on a fictitious world- view with a goal and rules forming restrictions similar to conventional game structures [12,13]. There are three main rules: (1) keep your turn (never skip your turn), (2) respect time limits, and (3) play based on the data provided. During the game, facilitators ensure that the stakeholders follow the rules. Due to the space limitation, the introduction to the game below will be minimal. Note that more detailed processes and practical cases can be inspected in other references (cf. [8,9]). Game materials are prepared based on real-world data from two main sources: ethno- graphic-inspired responses of end-users and technology seeds. The data are typically collected from an ethnographical study of a couple of potential users. The focus of the observations is usually ICT aspects such as usage and attitudes toward specific activities or systems. Ethnographical data are usually collected in house interiors since the game is targeted, so far, at the creation of ICT home services. Based on the collected materials, tools for the three games such as technology cards are prepared. Technology cards are busi- ness-card-sized picture cards (e.g. see Fig. 1) showing technology seeds from research labs. Although the game provides a fictitious world space, the game tools, such as cards, pieces, and videos, are deeply rooted in the real challenges and needs of end-users and actual tech- nology seeds from a research institution. Next we describe the three games briefly. The User Game. The first game is a user game. The objective of the user game is to create a fictitious user image -a persona -by constructing a person's story based on real target-user data collected from the field. The game tools are the video clips and moment cards, which show moments of the equivalent video clips taken from the field. The game starts with the cards being placed on the table. The first player then picks five cards and watches the associated 30 s video clips together with the group members. After watching the five videos, the first player makes up a story based on the cards he or she has selected. Then, he or she places all five cards on the table in order and writes a title on a sticky note reflecting the needs disclosed by the story. The next player takes four other cards and overlaps his or her story with the previous one, meaning that the second player must use at least one card already placed on the table in the previous turn. The game is over when all of the cards have been used or all of the team members agree that no new stories can be created. Finally, the team fills out a persona sheet based on the stories made up. The persona sheet (Fig. 2) holds a few details such as name, age, characteristics, family structure, job/income, living area, hobby, and attitudes toward things related to ICT services. Then, the team members describe the persona needs in turn and classify these needs into groups. Lastly, they prioritize the persona needs and list them in order. The Service Game. The objective of the service game is to design ICT services using future technology for the persona created in the user game. In this game, technology cards and the needs list are used as game tools (Fig. 1). Technology cards are a collection of core technologies, devices, existing services, and market domains. The game starts with the technology cards being placed face-down on the ...

Context 3

... Game. The objective of the scenario game is to create use-scenarios, where the persona uses the ICT service in a future home. Describing possible futures and enacting scenarios are known to represent a multi-faceted design tool [14]. By acting, stakeholders can simulate the targeted users' experiences and feelings, which can contribute to understanding challenges and designing services and products [15,22]. The experiences from previous games provide empathy for the users. The use-situations are developed and the design concept is also elaborated while the players take on roles, create scenarios, and act them out in a physical space such as a kitchen. In this game, players create a design plot. The game uses white sheets of paper, pens, and the persona and service sheets created in the previous games ( Figs. 1 and 2). The first player draws one initial scene in two minutes, referring to the sheets. Then, another player draws a successive story in another two minutes. In this way, the team creates at least two stories, each with three to five scenes. By drawing scenes in turn, all participants contribute. In the end, the team picks a team story. The story created is used as a plot for role-play. Team members act out the scenario and polish the team story until all members are satisfied or the time runs ...

Context 4

... average number of ideas generated by each team in each session was 16.84 in the brainstorming session and 21.22 in the service game, as shown in Table 2 and the histogram in Fig. 1. The number of ideas generated ranged from 6 to 58 in the brain- storming session and 8 to 36 in the service game. Since the idea-generation sessions lasted 70 min each, we could say that one idea was created every 3.6 min. Generally speaking, the team that generated 58 ideas by brainstorming could be regarded as highly productive. Welch's t-test was used to compare the number of ideas generated between brain- storming and the service game, and showed a significant trend. The B-S group shows a trend of significant difference (t(30) = -1.53, p < 0.1), and the S-B group showed the same results (t(30) = -1.53, p < 0.1). Moreover, the difference between the two sessions in the total group shows a statistically significant result (t(62) = -2.07, p < ...