Marae-opoly: A Serious Game to Support Adaptation Decision-Making

When trying to decide how to approach adaptation, games can break through complexity, disagreement and decision paralysis. This is because games generate an experience that can encompass the complexity, uncertainty and nuance of the adaptation decision-making problem. More importantly, games generate a place to experiment with options and understand what sets of options can generate desirable outcomes and which cannot.

Ultimately, games can be a fast track to developing Dynamic Adaptive Policy Pathways (DAPP) for specific places and communities. As such games can act as a bridge between technical information and real-world objectives.

I like serious games because they mimic reality but have no real-world consequences. If you fail to achieve your desired outcomes in a game, it doesn’t really matter, you can try again. However, decisions in the real world have implications. As such, games are a safe learning and experimental space that have proved to be enormously popular.

Below, I provide several key insights regarding the design, implementation and success of Marae-oploy, which is a bespoke serious game designed to support hapū-led adaptation to flooding.

Background

In the face of intensifying climate risks, many Indigenous communities globally are confronted with difficult decisions about how to adapt in ways that suit their values, identity, and long-term wellbeing. Marae-opoly was co-developed as an innovative tool to support localised, Māori-led flood adaptation planning at Tangoio Marae, in Northern Hawke’s Bay. It seeks to empower the hapū to respond to the impacts of flooding on their marae and develop strategies and adaptation pathways to respond to the increasing frequency and magnitude of future events.

Game Design and Development

Marae-opoly was developed through a series of participatory workshops between the hapū and scientists. The goal was to co-create a game that mimicked the Tangoio context and could simulate a century of climate risk and adaptation decisions in a way that was both educational and empowering. More specifically, the game was designed to create space for the hapū to explore issues like intergenerational equity, hapū aspirations, and resilience in order to establish what “successful” adaptation looks like for them. The game uses physical components (see photo) that represent the reality of the local adaptation challenge. Players were given:

1. A base map of the surrounding landscape and marae buildings.

2. A budget, based on the likely available funds.

3. A set of adaptation options that were actionable on the marae, including relocation, investments, insurance, and general marae upgrades (i.e. a new kitchen or playgrounds).

4. A set of hapū aspirations and desired outcomes, based on a hapū-wide survey.

5. An unknown future with respect to timing, frequency and magnitude of events.

The game was played in a full-day hui at Tangoio Marae. Participants formed 6 groups, where they strategized, and made decisions together in rounds. Each round represented a 10 year time period, and there were 10 rounds in total to illustrate 100 years of future change. Between each round, a flood simulator (the rain-maker) randomly generated flood events of different frequency and magnitudes, causing inconvenience and damage. Each team experienced the same set of events and tested their strategy to see how their choices influenced the outcome for the marae.

Essentially, players faced uncertain flood events, financial constraints, and strategic choices about whether to relocate the marae, elevate structures, improve infrastructure, or wait and see.

Key design features of the game include:

• Deep uncertainty, where players must make choices without knowing how severe or frequent future flood events will be.

• Path dependency, when early decisions constrain or enable future choices.

• Financial tensions because there is not enough money to undertake all the desired options at once, and so the actions must be staged in an adaptation pathway.

Learning Outcomes

Despite the subject matter, players found the game to be entertaining and very informative. Post-game reflections showed that players developed a clearer understanding of:

• The flood adaptation challenge for their marae.

• The long-term suitability of various adaptation choices for achieving desired outcomes.

• The trade-offs between different types of decisions and strategies.

• How uncertainty can be considered in decision-making processes.

Impact on Real-World Decisions

One of the most notable outcomes of the project was its tangible impact on real-world decision-making. After playing Marae-opoly and reflecting on the insights it generated, the hapū collectively created an adaptation pathway and began exploring the feasibility of several of the options; principally, increasing the height of the stop bank and relocation of their marae to higher ground.

Unfortunately, Cyclone Gabrielle damaged the marae before the adaptation plan could be implemented. The hapū are still rebuilding and considering how to now implement their long-term plans.

Despite the outcome, the transformative potential of place-based serious games as a way to collectively build adaptation pathways and generate a collective understanding of how to achieve desired outcomes as the climate changes is clear. Essentially the game provided a platform for the hapū to explore their own options in their own way.

Broader Learning

Bespoke serious games like Marae-opoly offer a new way to approach adaptation and decision making.

Key lessons include:

• Games operate as low-risk “safe spaces” because they allow communities to test strategies and experiment without real-world consequences.

• Co-production is essential, as the success of the game depended on deep relationships, mutual respect, and the embedding of Māori (and/or local) knowledge systems and aspirations from the outset.

• Serious games can be used for more than education, because the game was not just a tool for learning, but a catalyst for real change.

• This approach is potentially transferable to other Indigenous communities, as well as other communities who are facing climate risks.

Other Serious Games

Bespoke games can take time to develop. However, there are several other serious games I've been involved in developing which are freely accessible on-line, and which can be used in any community. These are:

1. My Coastal Futures – A single player sea-level rise adaptation game https://niwa.co.nz/climate-and-weather/my-coastal-futures-online-game

2. Township Flood Adaptation – A multi-player flood adaptation game https://niwa.co.nz/climate-and-weather/climate-change/township-flood-challenge-game/introduction-township-flood-challenge-game

3. Future Coasts Aotearoa – A multi-player, multi-hazard coastal lowland adaptation game https://niwa.co.nz/social-science/serious-games/future-coasts-aotearoa/research-outputs/future-coasts-aotearoa-serious-game

4. Adaptive Futures – Lead a coastal community in their adaptation journey https://niwa.co.nz/hazards/adaptive-futures-serious-game-climate-change-adaptation

• Blackett, P., FitzHerbert, S., Luttrell, J. et al. Marae-opoly: supporting localised Māori climate adaptation decisions with serious games in Aotearoa New Zealand. Sustain Sci 17, 415–431 (2022) Read more

• Te Huringa ki te Rangi– He Rautaki Tāwariwari: Adapting to Climate Change – A decision-making model for Indigenous Peoples Read more

• Tangoio Climate Change Adaptation Decision Model A process for exploring adaptation pathways for Tangoio Marae Read more