Beetle Migration Game: Balancing Ecosystems as a More-than-Human Play Practice

Abstract

The paper presents Beetle Migration Game, a work-in-progress serious game designed with the ecological principles of bark beetle migration and forest resilience. We document a design approach that incorporates More-than-Human principles and non-anthropocentric perspectives that recognize the entanglement and agency of all species within the game mechanics and systems. This methodology utilizes a lightweight annotation process to ensure ecological logics are made explicit, aiming to shift serious games from individual achievement and maximizing rewards towards fostering ecological thinking and awareness. The paper details the game design process, including the player’s role as a steward in managing a forest ecosystem facing beetle infestations, and discusses the potential for this More-than-Human approach to encourage players to focus on ecological interdependencies rather than isolated, exploitation-based goals. We carry out a preliminary user study with 65 participants and identify 2 directions for future work.