Serious games and sensibility regimes: Paradoxes in using games for human formation

Abstract

We think about the implications of digital games on non-school formation policies with serious games, analyzing two games – Ayiti: the cost of life and Sara: A Meaningful Journey Part One. We initially discuss the relationship between game and learning, emphasizing the interactional and cognitive aspects contributed by digital games and the networked personal computer interface in the recruitment of an immersive experience, according to Maturana and Varela's theory of learning. Following, we question the concept of serious game and its use as an awareness-raising way for action in the scope of the policies of human formation. In the end, we reflect on the ethical-political aspects related to the design and content of digital games on screen.