Abstract:
Education in software engineering typically employs a variety of educational formats, including coding exercises, project work, case studies, or lectures. One important aspect of software engineering that appears inadequately addressed by these formats is communication—this includes communication with other programmers, clients, managers, or experts of other disciplines.
To address this lack, we prototyped the design of a tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) that gives players the opportunity to engage in technical or other challenging conversations in a safe, simulated setting. As in a typical TTRPG, a game leader gives two to three players a description of scenarios, acts as the non-player characters, and lets players react, forming a loop of cooperative storytelling. In first playtesting sessions, we find that the game manages to put players in situations that are unfamiliar and sometimes uncomfortable for them but does so in a way that is educational and still feels playful. We discuss avenues to make use of this format in a classroom setting for a large number of groups, as it heavily relies on the improvisational skills and experience of the game leader.
To address this lack, we prototyped the design of a tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) that gives players the opportunity to engage in technical or other challenging conversations in a safe, simulated setting. As in a typical TTRPG, a game leader gives two to three players a description of scenarios, acts as the non-player characters, and lets players react, forming a loop of cooperative storytelling. In first playtesting sessions, we find that the game manages to put players in situations that are unfamiliar and sometimes uncomfortable for them but does so in a way that is educational and still feels playful. We discuss avenues to make use of this format in a classroom setting for a large number of groups, as it heavily relies on the improvisational skills and experience of the game leader.