Structured briefing: Towards meaningful learning experiences with simulation games

Simulation gaming is an interactive method to simulate complex problems, allowing learners to experience, explore, and experiment with dynamic situations and processes. Simulation gaming sessions usually consist of three key phases – briefing, gameplay, and debriefing. Often, debriefing is seen as the most important part of such a session. Even though the briefing is supposed to have a similar significance as the debriefing, it is still an underrepresented, and underexplored phase in simulation gaming research. The briefing is in many cases the first point of contact between the facilitator(s) and the learner(s), and has an influence on the learning experience and outcomes. It is therefore important to understand how to implement a meaningful briefing to support the objectives of a simulation game. However, an agreed understanding of the briefing phase does not yet exist. To address this problem, we conducted a systematic literature review and analysed existing briefing approaches. The results show that the briefing phase within a simulation gaming session can be conceptualized along its structure and content, related both to the learner(s) and the facilitator(s). Furthermore, briefing can be differentiated into three phases: pre-, main-, and post-briefing. At all phases of the briefing, the facilitator is given a significant amount of responsibility for the success of the simulation gaming session. As conclusion, we propose a new briefing framework to be used by gaming researchers and practitioners to design and evaluate briefing activities.