What are the best ways to incorporate real-world events and issues into game mechanics?

1 Use narrative and gameplay choices

One of the most common and effective ways to incorporate real-world events and issues into game mechanics is to use narrative and gameplay choices. These are decisions that players make during the game, either through dialogue, actions, or branching paths, that affect the outcome of the story, the characters, or the world. By giving players agency and consequences, game designers can convey their message, invite reflection, or provoke discussion. For example, in Papers, Please, a game about immigration and bureaucracy, players have to decide whether to follow the rules, help the refugees, or join a resistance movement, while facing the impact of their choices on their family and society.

2 Use simulation and systems

Another way to incorporate real-world events and issues into game mechanics is to use simulation and systems. These are models that represent and emulate aspects of reality, such as physics, economics, ecology, or psychology, using algorithms, variables, and feedback loops. By creating realistic or abstract simulations and systems, game designers can illustrate, explore, or question the dynamics and implications of real-world phenomena. For example, in SimCity, a game about urban planning and management, players have to balance the needs and demands of different sectors, such as population, industry, environment, and budget, while dealing with the effects of natural disasters, crime, pollution, or social unrest.

3 Use aesthetics and symbolism

A third way to incorporate real-world events and issues into game mechanics is to use aesthetics and symbolism. These are elements that create the mood, tone, and style of the game, such as graphics, sound, music, color, or shape. By using aesthetics and symbolism, game designers can communicate, evoke, or subvert the meanings and associations of real-world concepts, cultures, or contexts. For example, in Limbo, a game about death and liminality, players have to navigate a dark, monochrome, and minimalist world, where everything is a potential threat, while solving puzzles and avoiding traps.

4 Use interaction and collaboration

A fourth way to incorporate real-world events and issues into game mechanics is to use interaction and collaboration. These are modes that determine how players communicate and cooperate with each other, such as online, local, or asynchronous multiplayer, co-op, or competitive modes. By using interaction and collaboration, game designers can foster, facilitate, or challenge the social and ethical aspects of real-world situations, such as cooperation, conflict, trust, or betrayal. For example, in Among Us, a game about deception and deduction, players have to work together to complete tasks and find the impostor among them, while the impostor has to lie, sabotage, and kill without being caught.

6 Use feedback and reward

A sixth way to incorporate real-world events and issues into game mechanics is to use feedback and reward. These are mechanisms that inform, motivate, or reinforce the players' behavior, performance, or progress, such as scores, achievements, levels, or rewards. By using feedback and reward, game designers can influence, manipulate, or critique the players' goals, values, or emotions, as well as the game's purpose, meaning, or message. For example, in Spec Ops: The Line, a game about war and morality, players have to face the consequences of their actions, as the game's feedback and reward systems become increasingly distorted, unreliable, and hostile.