The immersive worlds of GAME DESIGN with moral standards

For a long time, VIDEO GAMES were dismissed as a minor sin of youthful escapism – spaces where players could spend hours escaping a supposedly dull reality for worlds of adventure and heroic action. Yet play also taps into something far more fundamental in human perception: curiosity and the desire to learn. Developments in game design have shown that gaming can be much more than entertainment. The digital worlds we create today do not only offer fun and immersion; they enable meaningful experiences, both individual and collective. They can even become spaces where people collaboratively explore solutions in the virtual realm — with tangible, real-world effects. Without hierarchies. Without ego.

SLEEK What’s the big topic in game design right now?

DR. LINDA BREITLAUCH Above all, AI – it has long played a role in game development. It gets particularly exciting with procedurally generated, immersive worlds: every time I start, the world is a little different. This is closely related to replay value, i.e., the possibility of returning and having new experiences. That depends on compelling, engaging worlds. In storytelling, this has long been difficult: once I’ve experienced a story, why do it again? Here, AI can respond to me more dynamically as a player. Characters can remember how I interacted with them, and the world changes depending on my behaviour. That’s emergent game design: worlds that are constantly changing through interaction and the social systems. We’re moving away from linearity toward individualised gaming experiences.

S Is that easier to implement technologically today than it used to be?

LB Yes, especially when it comes to emergence: the idea that my in-game behaviour actually has consequences and changes the story. When we talk about personal responsibility, games are particularly suitable because they can hold up a mirror to us. Like other art forms, games are a mirror of society, but the interaction works differently here: you don’t just observe – you act. And you are confronted with your own decisions. This often has a moral dimension.

S What does it do to us psychologically when we immerse ourselves so deeply in these worlds?

LB The longer you play, the more the conflicts and challenges of the player character can merge with the person controlling them. A lot of research has been done on this: whether I see my character from the outside or play in first person changes the closeness, identification, and experience of making decisions. This can go so far that I am no longer present as a character, but become a meta-character and control a system – then we’re in the realm of simulation, strategy, and building. This makes complex scenarios easier to understand: I can not only show, but also simulate relationships. When it comes to climate and urban development, for example, I can change parameters and see the effects directly. This makes connections more accessible and challenges creativity – solutions that can ideally be transferred into reality.

S What is special about serious games – and why are they particularly important for learning, leadership, and social processes right now?

LB Games are spaces of negotiation, which is why they are well suited for teaching democracy. One example is Banished: you build a village, you have few people, limited resources, and then refugees arrive. You have to decide whether to take them in. The game suggests that decisions have not only moral but also systemic consequences. And this is precisely where responsibility lies in game design: you can steer things in one direction or the other. It’s not about pointing the moral finger, but about raising awareness and learning through your own experience. Decisions can also come back to haunt you later: a decision that is “worthwhile” in the short term can exacerbate problems in the long term. Basically, every game has an implicit moral system. Serious games are less about having a “different agenda” and more about being tied to authentic data – yet they still have to remain engaging. They have to be fun, otherwise no one will play them. We have developed software that can be used to procedurally generate cities – digital twins, from floor plans and property sizes to supply structures. If data is available, it can be implemented, visualised, and simulated. Then comes the artistic and creative challenge: how do you make complex economic systems or geopolitical processes understandable so that a real learning effect is achieved? Democracy in particular is highly complex, and many people feel overwhelmed by it. Serious games can be a tool that is accessible not only to experts but to many people: every player can try things out, understand them, and intervene – at least within the simulation.

S So there is also a mutual feedback loop between the game and real life?

LB One concept is “Games for Science”: collective creativity is harnessed because the game design structures the task in such a way that even non-experts can contribute. A well-known example is a game designed to model protein structures. Thanks to the large community, some tasks were solved extremely quickly because people collaborated, tried things out, and recognised patterns. The principle is used more frequently today: A tool is provided, and players discover things that are relevant to research. Similar approaches have also been used for issues related to COVID.

S Games almost seem like a democratic medium without boundaries here.

LB Exactly. There are global communities, often without traditional hierarchies – if anything, based on player experience. This is interesting from a democratic perspective, but also for intercultural exchange. I see this with my students too: international gaming communities are spaces where social roles are renegotiated and cultural perspectives can be experienced through exchange.

S How has digital identity developed in gaming – and what does that say about our society?

LB Identification often happens through storytelling, narratives, and otherness. We know this from books and movies too. It’s not automatically escapism. We’ve been telling stories since eons: not only to reflect reality, but also to imagine possibilities that are not available in everyday life. When we play games, we know that it’s not “the real world” – and yet we immerse ourselves in it. Psychologically, this can be good because it allows me to have experiences that would otherwise be inaccessible to me. It becomes problematic when it turns purely into escapism and one’s own reality no longer seems manageable. But not every journey into a fictional world is bad – if only because there are communities that share experiences, and this makes virtual experiences socially real.

S So storytelling in games is more than just narration? How do our current circumstances influence themes in games?

LB Yes. In games, storytelling is not just narration, but real-time experience – often collaborative. You can observe collective processes in games: planning, resource management, coordination, roles, responsibility. Such experiences can be very “real,” even if they take place in a game. And we learn in games because they motivate us: because they are fun, because we are curious, because we want to understand more. Self-efficacy arises when I figure out for myself how something works. For me, that’s what makes a good educational game – often more effective than approaches that rely solely on memorisation. I currently have the feeling that power relations are increasingly shifting outside of democratic processes. This creates a sense of powerlessness. I also notice this among students: “There’s nothing you can do anyway” – and then you with- draw. This aligns with the trend toward cozy games: games that are calming and don’t overwhelm, because many people feel helpless in their everyday lives due to news and crises. I find that dramatic. In games, people experience agency: if the world were a game, we could try things out, change things, intervene. That sense of agency is central.

PROF. DR. LINDA BREITLAUCH teaches game design at Trier University of Applied Sciences and conducts research with a particular focus on interactive storytelling, serious games, gamification, and dramaturgy.