Designing Imaginary Worlds as State-Observation Frameworks: A Methodological Proposal

This working paper proposes a methodological framework for treating imaginary worlds—such as games, narrative fiction, and symbolic interactive environments—as state-observation instruments. Drawing on traditions in experimental philosophy, design fiction, and research-through-design, the paper argues that carefully designed imaginary worlds can function as research apparatuses for observing psychological and cognitive state dynamics. Rather than presenting empirical findings or claiming intervention effects, the paper integrates prior working papers (WP-G1–G5) into a coherent observation-by-design pipeline, outlining design principles, analytical layers, and scope boundaries suitable for future empirical research.