Action learning environments (ALEs)

Action learning environments (ALEs) show up in many different forms and contexts of use for a variety of audiences. Due to advances in information technology and software design, gaming is becoming increasingly accessible to the general public. See for example computer, or digital games. These advantages necessitate additional responsibility of game designers with respect to the impact of knowledge transfer.
Especially policy makers and managers tend to extract more certainty from gaming & simulation studies of social systems than scholars generally think to be justified. Policy makers and managers as well as the lay public tend to ignore ranges of uncertainty of model output. Assumptions underlying models, which are based on insufficient theoretical and empirical evidence, are important sources or uncertainty. Players’ perceptions and interactions shape the conditions for conceptualizing reality and define the richness and reach of gaming exercises.
ALEs convey meaning that needs to be assessed criticially by facilitators in dialogue with the participants, especially with regard to their impact on governance in social systems.

Game design concerning social systems is not a neutral process. It takes place in a policy arena and that awareness should be reflected in the knowledge elicitation and utilization activities.

In Chapter five, and Part III of the book Magic Circle: Principles of Gaming & Simulation I have addressed these issues in detail.