Games as an interface for complex data

Context
Real-world problems are often complex and messy, involving multiple dimensions and rarely offering a single straightforward solution. We have been working with questions around such wicked problems: How do we better understand what makes people vulnerable? And just as importantly, how do we help build resilience among communities that are already at risk?

At Fields of View, we build tools that untangle the messiness inherent in real-world systems through games and simulations. Modelled on real-world data and institutional processes, these tools translate layered datasets into interactive interfaces. Rather than presenting data as static visualisations, we embed it within systems that allow participants to experience trade-offs, constraints, and unintended consequences. This session shares our ongoing work of how games and simulations can push the boundary of how we design with data - from understanding data to interacting with it.

Objective and key themes Through the Dialogues discussion, we aim to deconstruct what it means to model real-world data into interactive game elements for various types of practioners- designers, techologists, and researchers amongst others. The discussion will focus on:

• Building interfaces that make complex data and disciplinary approaches more accessible and actionable

• Translating multi-layered datasets into engagement in the game

• Using interaction with data to understand trade-offs

Structure
We begin with a facilitated 15-minute gameplay of Scheme! - a simulation-based game developed to question how we understand support for vulnerable communities. Participants will engage directly with the game rather than first being told about it.

Following the gameplay, an Open Question Circle (15 minutes) will invite participants to reflect on what datasets, disciplinary approaches, and modelling assumptions they believe informed the game design. This conversation surfaces how data is interpreted, abstracted, and translated.

In the final 15 minutes, we will share the underlying models, datasets, and design decisions used to build the game. This Experience Exchange will open discussion on alternative approaches, and other ways complex data might be represented and engaged.

Intended Audience This session is intended for data visualisation practitioners, technologists, designers, researchers, and others working with complex systems and public data.

Takeaways
The key takeaway of the discussion is to aid an introduction into how games and simulations can create a space where complex data is not just visualised, but interacted with, and most importantly engaged with to help make more informed decisions.

We hope to open up conversations around what kind of tools, methods and approaches can make data that often sits in spreadsheets and is accessible only to a select few, more engaging and actionable.