Historically, in rural farming and fishing areas of Japan, “territorial disputes” with wild animals have occurred. As the number of local residents decreases, the territory occupied by wildlife continues to expand, and occasionally they are noticeably invading areas where people live. In contemporary Japan, where regional revitalization is a keyword, when considering the promotion of agricultural and mountainous fishing villages, there is a need to think about how to achieve symbiosis between humans and wild animals. While solving such problems requires expert knowledge, there is also a need to involve people who do not have such expertise. Therefore, in this workshop, “gaming/gamification” makes it possible to use a familiar form to present the core of the problem in real social tasks and solutions to people who do not have expert knowledge. The intended outcome of the workshop was to “create a game that considers the symbiosis between humans and wildlife,” and aimed for participants to master skills to discuss social issues and the essence of their solutions during the course of game-making and thinking.

The workshop was divided into several stages. The first stage was a lecture by four specialists. The participants learned the foundations of making an educational game from a specialist with games on the market including ‘Pandemic,’ a game which requires close cooperation from players. They also learned about symbiosis between humans and wildlife from two specialists from Pine Tree, a general incorporated association that produces educational/serious games. After that, participants heard lectures on Local Vitalization Cooperators from Hida City and the Hokkaido Onuma region. They are active in their own field and explained some of the problems in their regions to participants. As a next step, participants learned the process of making games by hearing about the details and production process of games produced based on the countermeasures used against wildlife damage in Noto. Participants also played the game, after which they discussed what kind of game could be made in response to the situations in Hida City and Onuma. At this workshop, Osaka University and Rakuten Co., Ltd. participated, creating opportunities to think about the actual problem-solving in the field through discussions with many different sectors across the framework of GCL.