Awareness Over Knowledge: An Exploratory Study on a Refugee Crisis Game

Background Migration crises, caused by conflicts, climate change, or economic decline, have been major drivers of social transitions in recent years, leading to significant changes in attitudes and policies toward refugees and migrants. In this context, serious games have emerged as a powerful tool for promoting awareness and understanding of the challenges faced by refugees. Objectives In this paper, we present the quantitative outcomes of a research project The People: a serious game to represent the complexity of the migration crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border . In the research, we explored how playing a serious game has impacted the affective, cognitive, and behavioural components of attitudes of 69 participants in light of the perception of the humanitarian crisis. Methods In the game, participants took on roles of migration crisis zone residents. We designed a quasi-experiment with pre-post surveys and observations of participants’ behaviour. We conducted statistical tests to confirm the effect of the simulation game on the attitudes towards asylum seekers and residents at the Polish-Belarusian border – at least at the declarative level. Results The game has improved participants’ willingness to mitigate the refugee crisis as well as the level of positive attitudes towards refugees – and knowledge regarding the situation of the inhabitants of the border area. Interestingly, the improved knowledge of refugees’ situation was not statistically significant, so despite the limited familiarity with refugees’ perspectives, the newly gained social awareness and comprehension of the migration crisis reinforced positive attitudes and agency for social change. Limitations and further research The participants were mostly from big cities and top high schools. Playing the game in rural areas, or among students without an interest in education could impact the outcomes. Creating a control group and expanding the sample is recommended to verify the role of the game per se as a transformative means.