How do you remove barriers between departments and improve collaboration in a big organization?
By giving employees the role of pirate captains and having them work together to get the biggest bounty!
Grendel Games introduces a serious game – called Transportuga Bay – for NS Transport Control, the National Railways of the Netherlands. The online game challenges employees to go on a mission together and solve the incidents they encounter along the way as quickly as possible. It is the first time that serious gaming is used this way within NS.
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Project goal
Within the transport control department, the game serves to increase insight into one’s own and others’ actions within the chain process, so that in case of incidents operations can return to the original planning as quickly as possible.
Transportuga Bay
From train to boat
NS Transport Control is responsible for managing the execution of the train service during the day. This department ensures that the national train service runs according to plan so that the passenger has a reliable train service. In the event of incidents, NS Transport Control makes adjustments by rescheduling the deployment of trains and adjusting the planning of conductors and train drivers. Collaboration with other departments is crucial for this. In the game this practice is translated into a metaphorical environment in which the players are captains of pirate ships transporting goods and pirates by sea. The game challenges the captains to go on missions together as much as possible where the necessary coordination is needed to complete the mission.
Scenarios from the work field
Several employees have been closely involved in the development. They have provided examples so that the incidents that occur in the game are based on real practical dilemmas. In a competition, employees of NS Transport Control compete for the most reputation points, which are a metaphor for passenger satisfaction. Behind the scenes an anonymous measurement is made of the extent to which the insight of employees is increased.
Client
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Tim Laning
Business developer
Do you want to know more about the possibilities of serious games? Let’s discuss what serious games can do for you.
