Super Busy Hospital: wicked games that triage

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to address the issue of how university students address learning through playing wicked games. Design/methodology/approach – Using a case study run by the author of a university undergraduate education module, qualitative data are provided to support a pragmatic model of addressing the issues of realistic behavior and outcomes. Findings – Through a combination of elements – mainly, integration of more conventional academic research, use of repeated points of contact between students and the lecturer and extensive reflection after the activity by the student – it is possible to provide for a gameplay experience that more closely follows real-world outcomes than would otherwise occur. Research limitations/implications – The use of a single case study clearly limits the ability to generalize and implies the need to replicate the work in new iterations and in new contexts. Practical implications – The paper highlights the importance of grounding wicked gameplay in realit...