Home - Ruritania Game

improving local cooperation
towards rural regeneration

About the Game

Welcome to Ruritania – a rural region known for its rich cultural and natural background. Its heritage includes both tangible and intangible assets – local agriculture, craft businesses, many interesting historical, religious, and cultural sites, as well as beautiful landscapes. In short, Ruritania has a lot to offer to tourists and residents alike. However, the region is also facing a few challenges: depopulation, low level of education, natural and manmade disasters, and migration. This is why the local community has come together to discuss how to use the heritage to remove the obstacles in the path to the social and economic prosperity of the region.

In the game, the community is represented by 9 roles:

Regional government roles
Rural Development Agency, Regional Civil Protection Agency

Local government roles
Departments of Infrastructure and Spatial Planning

Public-private associations
Chamber of Commerce, Tourism Association, and Cultural Heritage Association

Private associations
Environmental Association and Educators Association.

In their new roles, players develop projects aimed at regenerating the region. Will they succeed and revive Ruritania? Are they well prepared for the unexpected? Playing the game is the only possible way to find out.

In the game, the community is represented by 9 roles:

Regional government roles
Rural Development Agency, Regional Civil Protection Agency

Local government roles
Departments of Infrastructure and Spatial Planning

Public-private associations
Chamber of Commerce, Tourism Association, and Cultural Heritage Association

Private associations
Environmental Association and Educators Association.

The Ruritania Game was co-developed and widely used by the RURITAGE project partners across Europe to engage local stakeholders: activists, teachers, policymakers, art & craft representatives, citizens, and business owners in discussions on how to sustainably approach revitalization and address other regional challenges.

Playing the Ruritania Game helped these stakeholders find common ground and develop a joint incentive to act, thus accelerating local development. While exploring solutions in a simplified reality, stakeholders were able to build connections and get motivated to take action towards a common cause.

First, project partners were engaged in the co-creation of the Ruritania Game. Then, they used it to trigger discussions with stakeholders across Europe. The key question was how the existing cultural and natural heritage can boost rural regeneration.

Games designed for Replicators from all over the world had to include elements distinctive to each of these specific rural areas. The adjustment process entailed thus, among others, possibly the most faithful reproduction of the dominant features of each specific Systemic Innovation Areas (SIAs), taking into account characteristic landmarks, dominant types of production, the degree and quality of land use or jointly diagnosed current challenges, opportunities, natural hazards and any other problems in the area. All possible development scenarios implemented by the stakeholders taking part in the game sessions were based on good practices that had already been implemented by Role Models (RM) areas.

Testing early prototype of the game

Examples of game elements custom-made for specific region

All the six rural areas, located across Europe, received a game version customized for their region. The game’s map reflected the region’s topography, its landmarks, as well as cultural and natural heritage. Participants made decisions about sustainable development in the area, drawing on real projects that had been already implemented in other places around the world (Role Models). Each game was created in the national language used in the area. Because they recognized familiar places, processes, challenges, and hazards, participants quickly engaged in cooperation.

Moreover, the existing universal edition of the game can be translated into any national language.

Would you like to obtain a customized version for your area? Or maybe you are interested in the universal edition of the game in your language?

CONATACT US

We also offer training and supporting materials for moderators.

technical details

9-27 PLAYERS

3-4 HOURS

7 TABLES

applications

The Ruritania Game allows participants in many countries to take a closer look at the tradeoffs and synergies between various strategies aimed at rural regeneration. Within the RURITAGE project, workshops with Ruritania Game were conducted in the following locations:

Valladolid in Spain; Magma UNESCO Global Geopark in southwest Norway; the village of Negova, situated in the municipality of Gornja Radgona in northeast Slovenia; Izmir Geopark in Gediz-Bakirkoy Basins in Turkey; Geo-Naturpark Bergstraße-Odenwald in Germany, Geopark Karavanke/Karawanken – a crossborder UNESCO Global Geopark between Austria and Slovenia; the municipality of Appignano del Tronto, located in the Marche region in central Italy.

benefits

Playing the Ruritania Game allows stakeholders to find common ground. Participants explore potential solutions in a simplified reality. They also build connections with each other and get encouraged to act for the benefit of their communities. It increases their motivation to act, which results in a rise of local initiatives. It is how social simulations work. (The link redirects to an external website.)

Gain a shared understanding of the major challenges and opportunities for rural areas development

Discover and
exploit the potential of natural and cultural heritage

Experience transition-related challenges in complex systems where multiple stakeholders’ interests collide

Practice collaboration among various organizations and groups whose individual and collective goals differ

Learn about
the good and bad influence of tourism on the local economy and natural environment

GALLERY

FIRST PROTOTYPE TEST, WROCŁAW POLAND

RURITAGE PROJECT KICK-OFF MEETING, VALLADOLID, SPAIN

RURITANIA GAME IN MAGMA UNESCO GLOBAL GEOPARK, EGERSUND, NORWAY

RURITANIA GAME IN THE VILLAGE OF NEGOVA, SLOVENIA

What participants say

That was a really nice game,because you get to see that actually you cannot do anything by yourself. You need to work together. People need to work together, with governments with all the authorities and everything, in order to achieve really good things.

~ Participant from Valladolid ~

In the third round everybody was standing round the table with the game and together they decided what is necessary for a positive and productive future development.

~ Participant from Karavanke Geopark ~

Most participants who are working in a “serious” workplace environment
were highly motivated during the game, thanks to serious game activity.
Because the participants didn’t worry about making mistakes as they do in real life!

~ Participant from Izmir ~

Everybody understood that we are facing similar problems in our area.

~ Participant from Karavanke Geopark ~

The game is a funny way to better understand the dynamics , and interdependence of the local development.

~ Participant from Appignano Del Tronto ~

It’s also good to have a different point of view, for example, different people with different expertise can generate different view and different project that maybe other people couldn’t think about because they’re more focused on one field.

~ Participant from Valladolid ~