Bringing together participants from Switzerland and Japan, the event explored how games are designed, experienced, and used for learning in different contexts. Through gamification, serious games, and game-based learning, the participants looked at how play can support teamwork, communication, behavioral change, and social connection, while exchanging on the gaming cultures in Switzerland and Japan. The evening also welcomed Swiss interns from the NextStep Mobility Program, which provides young graduates of vocational education and training (VET) with the opportunity of an internship abroad.

Facilitated by Roberto Siano, lecturer at ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences, the workshop drew on insights from his research work in applied psychology with hands-on games, while bringing perspectives from the gaming cultures of Switzerland and Japan.

During the event, Roberto Siano shared an example from his neighborhood in Zurich, where he organizes a monthly game evening at a local community space. The idea is simple: two people who have never met may sit down and play together, and “the next time they see each other at the supermarket, they already have a reason to say hello”. As Siano explained, “a game can be an easy way to get to know each other in your area.”

The workshop also paid cloce attention to how participants connect together. Before the event, participants completed a short survey about their gaming preferences, such as whether they enjoyed competition or physical activity. Based on the results, participants were grouped into teams. The games played by each team encouraged different kinds of interaction.

In one challenge, teams used a one-meter-long pen to trace a maze as quickly and accurately as possible, turning a simple task into an energetic competition. Another one, inspired by Japanese crane games, asked teams to predict how many pieces of candy they could pick up with a sticky tool, with points awarded based on how close their prediction was to the result. Cheers and disappointment followed each attempt as the teams watched the outcome together. The evening also featured NULLI, a Swiss dice game in which players roll dice and use the results to draw lines and eliminate points on their individual sheets. Although everyone played at the same time, the simple rules quickly encouraged concentration and friendly competition. As participants discussed strategies and reacted to unexpected results of dice, conversations started naturally and the atmosphere became increasingly lively.

Roberto chose Japan to do a research stay in Japan “mostly because of its gaming culture.” Beyond Japan’s internationally renowned video games, the country has its share of serious games but most of the research on the topic is published only in Japanese. His research stay gave Roberto a chance to directly investigate approaches used in Japan, and whether methods different from Switzerland have developed here. Games often reflect local concerns and social issues. For example, he discovered games focusing on earthquakes and disaster preparedness in Japan. Such topics are not as common in Switzerland.

In the future, Roberto Siano sees more potential for games to help people connect with each other. New technologies such as AI have made developing games easier, but he strongly believes that one aspect of game design will remain deeply human. Game designers are better at observing how people play, react, communicate, and interact with one another, including through subtle changes of facial expression or vocal tone than artificial intelligence. According to him, this is an essential part of creating and improving games.

During his stay in Japan, Roberto Siano explored Japanese approaches to gamification through exchanges with SEGA XD and researchers from The University of Tokyo and International Professional University of Technology in Tokyo, Kyoto University, Hiroshima University, Ritsumeikan University, National Institute of Technology and Osaka Electro-Communication University.