About the Project

Welcome!

This is the official project website of Gaming Horizons. This project was funded by the European Commission through the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 732332).

Gaming and gamification represent some of the most exciting and promising areas of socio-technical innovation. On the one hand, games are a genuinely novel expressive medium; on the other hand, gaming is also a testbed for some of the most ground-breaking innovations of the last few years, such as virtual reality, augmented reality and artificial intelligence. The importance of gaming for the European innovation industries and its impact on society cannot be underestimated.

In light of this relevance and in line with recent discussions about the role of Responsible Research and Innovation in the European context, the main ambition of Gaming Horizons was to democratically open up new areas of public value for the games industry as a whole, beyond sectorial distinctions between ‘leisure’ and ‘serious’ games. As such, the project laid the groundwork for a balanced and research-informed dialogue about the use of games or game-derived elements for learning and critical reflection, benefiting a range of stakeholders in various sectors: education, ICT, game development, and policy.

The methodology was largely grounded on the creation of a dialogic interface between key stakeholders and disciplinary areas: education, research and critical commentary on games, and game development. Data collection started after the first consultation cycle with the Advisory Board.

The project was organised in three work-packages. Their objectives are summarised below.

WP1 - Project Management, scientific coordination and dissemination

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  To provide project management coordination 
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  To provide high-level scientific coordination and ensure ​methodological consistency. 
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  To create a budget spread sheet in order to calculate and estimate spend. 
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  To ensure and coordinate risk management procedures. 
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  To coordinate engagement with the advisory board. 
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  To ensure ongoing communication among partners including face-to-face meetings. 
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  To arrange and coordinate dissemination activities including flagship unconference and collaborative publications.

WP2 - ​Informed challenge through landscape analysis

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  To define a robust empirical background for the project by reviewing the latest evidence and best practices. 
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  To define a methodological framework which should act as a backdrop for the research activities. 
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  To carry out a critical analysis of the H2020 documentation and other official texts from a range of international gamification and game-based learning projects. 
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  To carry out primary data collection (followed by interpretative analysis) through expert interviews involving key informants and decision makers directly or indirectly involved in shaping or delivering the EU agenda on gamification/applied games or game-based learning projects.

WP3 - ​Cultural Expansion through stakeholder engagement

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  To identify and liaise with key stakeholders from policy, the mainstream gaming industry, independent game development, the arts, education and organisations/groups from civil society which represent the diverse and multicultural nature of European societies. 
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  To establish communication channels between the European ICT community, the educational sector and other communities and individuals working in mainstream industry as well as at its fringes, carrying out experimental work with games and redefining boundaries. 
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  To challenge the established consensus, expand imaginaries, discuss and define limits/ constraints in a constructive and dialogic fashion.