230 students participated in online game about sustainability

On 22 February, 230 students at Jönköping International Business School (JIBS) took part in the interactive 2030 SDGs Game as part of the course Responsible Enterprise. For three hours, the students, organized into 72 groups, participated in building a world according to the 17 global goals. This was the first time this kind of interactive teaching had been used at the university, and it was a success!

During the game, the students invested money to achieve goals for gender equality, industry growth, and environmental conservation. They had to keep the different outcomes in mind and could at once see whether their decisions contributed to a fairer society, increasing education, reforestation, and cleaner air or to deforestation and unfair treatment.

“This was so fun and very creative. You had to think and react and could see the consequences of your actions. It was an eye-opener”, says Dilara Nakshbandi and Jordan Hoffmann, who participated in the game.

The 2030 SDGs Game stands for world Agenda 2030 and the 17 sustainable development goals and was created by Takeo Inamura & Takeshi Muranaka in 2016. It is an online multiplayer, in-person, card-based game that simulates taking “the real world” into 2030, using Teams as a platform. Through games and dialogue with other participants, the partakers experience and take a stand on different opportunities for the world and for themselves from a sustainability perspective

“You realize that everything is connected.”

The students shared their emotions and expressed their disappointment when contributing to an unfair and more polluted world. “We lost socialism!” was a comment heard several times during the session. The game also made them reflect on the benefits of having protective policies and leadership versus extreme capitalism run at the expense of life.

“You realize that everything is connected. Sustainability is much about balancing factors like time, money, the bigger economy, and emissions. It’s like a chain where everything is linked together. The world will go under if you don’t consider all those factors. In the end, it also means that we need to make sacrifices. The game made that perfectly clear”, says student Omar Abouradi.

The session was facilitated by Aya Matsuyama and several certified SDG game facilitators. Course examiner Dr Guénola Abord-Hugon Nonet and teacher Rida Ijaz were very grateful for this opportunity given to the students and for the great support provided by Brad Peirce, Chief Transformation Officer at the Sustainability Mindshift, in helping design the interactive and insightful seminar.

“This opportunity given to our JIBS students reflects how our business school is working hard at transforming all programs to ensure that each graduating student is familiarized with the current global risks and the opportunities associated with transforming organizations”, says Guénola Abord-Hugon Nonet.

The company Possible World made the online game possible and we look forward to more SDGs online experiences with them for our students.

Find out more about the SDGs Game