GAiming Our Future (Co-op)

The project was co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.

"GAiming Our Future (Co-op)" was an Erasmus+ Youth Exchange about games, game-based learning and gamification. The main activity happened between 15-23 July 2022 in Békés, Hungary. 30 people (mainly aged 18-25) came together from Croatia, Italy, Greece, Romania and Hungary to take part in a non-formal educational experience.

When planning the project, we articulated the following thoughts:

"On the one hand, we realised that an intercultural setting puts us out of our comfort zone and greatly triggers self-development and learning. It makes us realise that even though we come from different backgrounds, we have a lot in common and we are able to create meaningful bonds with each other.

On the other hand, games have always been playing a big part in our lives and we can thank a lot of development in many different fields to them. They have always helped us get to know ourselves better and helped develop our most basic and most complex competences as well.

We want to carry out this project so that we can fuse these two elements together and create something impactful not just for the participants but for everyone who is reached by this project."

Therefore, we came together to exchange ideas and best practices that address these topics.

We took part in activities, workshops, reflections, and evaluations and also implemented sessions by ourselves. We had the chance to improve in many different ways during the project by living in an intercultural environment.

Daily blog

Day 1

"This was the first day of our project in Békés, Hungary. After the exhausting arrival day, we started the first day by learning each other’s names via different name games. We even got to know others' "online names". Even though we just met, the energy was really friendly and the vibes were right, the unfamiliar faces became familiar fast. 

We discussed what our individual goals are, the challenges we face during the project and the things we can contribute to this week. This task brought us closer when we heard that most of us have similar goals and challenges.   

After this, we agreed on the rules that make our stay more comfortable. In the afternoon, we did the mission (im)possible, which aim was to cooperate as a team all together in order to complete a couple of interesting tasks. It was a bit chaotic at first to fulfil all of it, but in the end, the mission impossible turned out to be possible. 

To deepen the connections between us, we went for a philosophical walk where we were talking about meaningful questions. As a closure to the day, we created family groups and reflected on what was happening during the day."

Day 2

"After we enjoyed our second breakfast together, we started with a funny name-game. Despite perfectly knowing each other’s names, playing with a blanket was still really enjoyable (and also informative). 

Then we got some hands-on experience as engineers - that is, if buildings were made of spaghetti and gummy bears. Soon we found out, that was an example of experiential learning. After the break, the Hungarian team (and Darius) were waiting for us outside with fun activities that turned out to be connected to Youthpass competences. 

Suddenly this exchange turned into a love child of Among Us and Survivor as we tried to stay alive in the unforgiving winter while trying to find out who was sabotaging us. It was then revealed that there were no impostors - it was all in our heads. We spent the rest of our time processing the big scam, and then we got to relax throughout the cultural night.

Three countries showed their traditional games, habits and dishes today. The first was the Croatian team. They played a short introductory video and then we all gathered to play with our nation the Kahoot game which had questions about their country and their team. We sang songs and then we all consumed the different products they brought from Croatia. 

The next ones were the Hungarians. They taught us their national dance and then we went outside to play a game with a spinning rope. They presented their countries through drawings and music while two members handed out to the others food and drinks. 

Then Greece followed with their dances and grouped us in pairs to play a game in which we had to understand the meaning of some Greek phrases. We also ate their national food. It was such an experience to get to know different cultures a little more."

Day 3

"Time truly flies when you are having fun! We are already almost at half of our project!

The third day of the project started with an experiment that tested our ability of inclusion and made us realize how many layers integration has. After a long reflection, we relaxed outside, in the beautiful nature, doing improv theatre exercises we enjoyed. 

That was a good warm-up to our creative process in the afternoon when we had to engage with the challenge of writing a story that had to contain random words we came up with earlier. After we finished the stories, we reflected on the process of writing them and read them to each other in our family groups. 

Since storytelling is not our only talent, we took care of the afternoon and evening activities. We shared our talents, experience, and passions in a variety of workshops like meditation, self-defense, different sports, improv theatre, body poetry, and origami. 

The favorite part of the day was intercultural nights where Romanians and Italians showed us their traditional games, dances, and costumes and treated us to their national specialties. We treated them with our best dance moves. After finishing the third day of our project, we sure can say that we here are writing the story of some of the best days of our lives."

Day 4

"Our fourth day in Bekes started with us answering 17 questions about the perception we have of ourselves, our values and their correlation with the past, the present and the future after this. 

We enjoyed many outdoor activities as well. Initially, we split into pairs where one made movements and the other was the mirror imitating those movements and vice versa. Then we had to walk silently and without making intense movements to find an ally. We drew very interesting conclusions. Then one of the two put a mask on their eyes and the other was the guide. At the last stage, the ally that could see hypothetically guided the one who couldn’t see to a very meaningful place. 

In the next session, we split into groups and looked for information about board games such as development stages, game categories, their mechanisms, player categories etc. and each group made a short presentation of their findings. 

In the evening the “limelight” was organized where a small stage was created and everyone presented something within a few minutes with the aim of showing something of themselves, which helped us to get to know each other even better."

"Today we had to put everything we learnt so far into action and create our own game! Something we were all looking forward to. 

It started by dividing ourselves into groups according to our interests in regards to creating this game. Once we formed our groups, the action started! The discussions and flow of ideas that we had among our groups were so refreshing, we were finally able to have a creative output. 

By the afternoon, each team started building a prototype of their game, making sure everything was ready for the testing phase. 

When the night time came we gathered in the conference room and played some DnD and other board games! 

Eventually, we all sat around the fire grilling (maybe even burning) marshmallows while singing our favorite songs. 

We couldn’t have asked for more!"

Day 6

"The day started as usual with us having breakfast. After a 30 minute gap, each team had the chance to test our own game and fix any issues that may come up, that is if we hadn’t tested it. Many teams during that time had the opportunity to create the board in which the game would be played, the pawns, special cards, rulebooks and generally anything that was required in order for their games to work out as intended. 

 Then, each team had the option, had we finished everything that was previously mentioned, to test each other’s games to have a more objective perception of our own game, like if it was to complicated or slow. After the feedback from the other teams we had the chance to further fix our game so no issue would arise.

 When the tests ended, we were introduced to the idea of digitizing a game. When the presentation ended, each team initiated the digitizing process, which solely included the writing and polishing of the rulebook and then uploading it.

 Afterwards, we were given some time to pack a backpack to take with us to the city of Békéscsaba and then headed to have lunch.

 After having lunched, we immediately left the venue to head to the bus station in Békés, from which we then rode the bus to Békéscsaba. The bus dropped us off about 5 minutes away from the cultural centre.

   During the waiting time till the visitors came, we had the chance to set up our game stations at the table and catch our breath. It was really hot that day.

   At 3:00 pm the visitors arrived and they, along with us, tested each other games. Screams of joy and triumph could be heard from all tables, as all of us “feasted” on the games we created. It was really rewarding knowing that your fellow participants and the visitors enjoyed your game. This lasted for about three hours, until 6:00 pm.

    At around 6:00 pm we had our dinner (it was pizza!) and then headed off to freely roam Békéscsaba. At around 8:00 pm we gathered again at the cultural centre’s riverside, where we watched the announcement of the results of the university acceptances of the Hungarian students. After we cheered for their successes, we headed to the riverside to relax until 10:15pm when we headed to the bus station to return to the venue."

Day 7

"As every good thing ends at some point, our youth exchange has reached its last day too.

The morning started with a discussion about gamification and its techniques. Did you know that gamification is the process of using game mechanics in a non-game environment? It was also something new for us, and turned out to be very useful. 

The afternoon was all about emotions. This was the last time we had lunch all together, the last time we went to the beach all together. We evaluated the whole project based on different categories, gave feedback to the organizers and highlighted our favorite memories of the week. Luckily, we had a bunch of them.

It was so great to hear when each of us shared the thoughts that we had in our minds connected to this week: inspiring people, deep connections, beyond expectations, learning something new about myself and so on. 

The last activity of the day was to say goodbye to each other in different ways like with a hug, a compliment, a handshake or eye contact. At this point, many eyes started crying from the kind words and the feeling of closure. It was an amazing experience standing there and seeing that after a week all the new faces became actually our friends. And now it just feels strange to start a day without these people."