Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DEI) is often used as a collective buzz term but is in fact a highly complex umbrella like term for several intricate concepts that are interconnected. DEI groups together three or sometimes more values/concepts where the ‘E’ in the acronym can stand for ‘equality’ or sometimes ‘equity.’ Acronyms have also been extended to include additional terms such as:
• ‘belonging’ DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging),
• ‘justice’ JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion) or EDIJ (Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Justice) and
• ‘access’ (IDEA, DEIA, DEAI) standing for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Access in the variations.
There are therefore at least three immensely complex terms joined together for positive societal outcomes and impacts. The Scottish Government (2024) defines the components of DEI as the following:
• Equality as “making sure every individual has an equal opportunity to make the most of their lives and talents. It is also the belief that no one should have poorer life choices because of where, what or whom they were born or because of other characteristics.”
• Diversity as “an acceptance that everyone is different and that those differences are to be recognised, respected, valued, promoted, and celebrated. They may include but are not limited to differences protected by equalities law.”
• Inclusion as “where everyone feels valued at work. It is about providing equal access to opportunities and resources for people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalised.”
The three terms encompass a plethora of interconnected and related terms shown in Figure 1:
While training for these subjects can be difficult with traditional training approaches such as discussions, roleplaying and current online multi-media eLearning tick box exercises. Games can be utilised as they have the following general benefits of being motivational, risk free, allow an increase of self-esteem, are exceptionally versatile and allow emotional purification. Building on educational theories of constructivism, motivation and situated learning computer games integrate “…not just knowing and doing. Games bring together ways of knowing, ways of doing, ways of being, and ways of caring: the situated understandings, effective social practices, powerful identities, and shared values that make someone an expert. The expertise might be that of a modern soldier in Full Spectrum Warrior, a zoo operator in Zoo Tycoon, a world leader in Civilization III. Or it might be expertise in the sophisticated practices of gaming communities, such as those built around Age of Mythology or Civilization III.” (Shaffer, Squire, Halverson and Gee, 2005).
Serious Games have the ability to marry fun and education and are considered by some educationalists and industrialists to be a highly motivational form of supplementary teaching, learning and training. They have been utilised in a plethora of different areas including Science, Languages, Social Issues, Health, History, Music and Maths (Connolly et al., 2012; Hainey et al., 2016; Boyle et al., 2016). Serious Games and simulations have been a constant feature through the decades with some being credited with changing the world https://www.growthengineering.co.uk/serious-games-that-changed-the-world/.
These include:
• 1967/1970 – Logo
• 1971 – The Oregon Trail
• 1980 – Battlezone
• 1983 – Math Blaster!
• 1984 – Reader Rabbit
• 1989 – SimCity
• 1991 – Civilization, Dr. Brain
• 2002 – America’s Army.
• 2005 – VBS1 (Virtual Battlespace Systems 1), Brain Age or Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training
• 2011 – X-Plane 10, Minecraft
• 2016 – Pokémon Go
• 2017 – Fortnite
• 2017 – Minecraft Education Edition
• 2023 – Little Learning Machines
The idea of simulations or Serious Games for training, education and adjustment of attitudes in DEI related subjects is not new. Chapman (1974, 1975) performed a cultural study using the social simulation game “Starpower” to develop positive attitudes in relation to racism and sexism. The experiment utilised 182 Freshman and Transfer students that were attending the Maryland’s 1974 new Student Orientation Program. The students were split into three experimental groups and one control group. Each group played the game and either discussed racism, sexism, both or neither topics. The effectiveness of the game was unclear as it was most likely the discussions which transformed attitudes. The participants in the experimental groups showed more positive attitudes in relation to racism and sexism, however males seemed to have a more positive reaction towards sexism than racism.
Serious Games have been used to an extent in the following DEI related subjects:
• Empathy and prejudice towards persons with disabilities with the following associated game: https://www.theworldofempa.org/welcome.php.
• Equity focused games-based learning in teaching health staff.
• Social economic status with the following associated game: https://playspent.org/.
• Social determinants of health.
• Agism with the Geriatric Medication Game® (GMG).
• Decreasing racial bias with the following related game: https://fairplaygame.org/demo/.
• Psychosocial aspects of medicine.
• Intersectionality with the following associated game: https://cattsmall.itch.io/sweetxheart.
• Gender equality, gender-based violence, domestic violence.
• Bullying.
• Neurodivergence with some of the associated games: Guess Who? GOLIAH, Join-In, No-Problem, The Junior Detective Training Program (JDTP), Secret Agent Society, ECHOES, CVLE 3D empathy system, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, FindMe, WUBees, VR-SCT, Zirkus Empatico (ZE), Social Tutor, CoASD, MEBoo and ShopAut 2.
• Transgender Representation/Trans and Gender Diverse attitudes to GBL with the commercial game Tell Me Why.
• British Sign Language (Mcintrye, Hainey, and Baxter, 2025).
• Pronoun Practice (Lawrie, Hainey, and Baxter, 2025).
The Centre for Professional & Executive Development at the University of Wisconsin-Madison state that there are eight reasons for employees to be resistant to DEI training (https://blog.uwcped.org/resolve-8-reasons-people-are-resistant-to-dei-training/). Some of these reasons include: Fear of making mistakes, feeling personally attacked and resistance to uncomfortable conversations. This is where Serious Games can offer an alternative to traditional training approaches in the following ways:
• They can offer a deep immersive experience utilising realistic life experiences rather than multimedia, eLearning, unengaging, tokenistic training.
• They are risk free and allow players to make mistakes without causing real world offence, anxiety or causing people to feel psychologically unsafe.
• It is possible to make them generic so that trainers and educators can integrate their own educational and training content.
The purpose of this blog is to increase awareness of the potentiality of Serious Games to be utilised in DEI related subjects to drive both fields forward in relation to:
- Generation of further empirical evidence with regards to randomised controlled trials in Serious Game research in DEI related topics.
- Development of mixed methodologies for the integration of deep and rich pedagogical/andragogical content into Serious Game solutions which may be of a sensitive nature.
- Provide encouragement to develop further Serious Game education and training solutions in a diverse range of DEI related fields to supplement traditional training and learning approaches.
- To utilise current levels of technology to enhance training for positive societal outcomes and impacts.
References
Boyle, E.A., Hainey, T., Connolly, T.M., Gray, G., Earp, J., Ott, M., Lim, T., Ninaus, M., Ribeiro, C., & Pereira, J.A. (2016). An update to the systematic literature review of empirical evidence of the impacts and outcomes of computer games and serious games. Computers & Education., 94, 178-192.
Chapman, T. H. (1974). Simulation Game Effects on Attitudes Regarding Racism and Sexism. College Park, MD: University of Maryland.
Chapman, T. H. (1975). Simulation game effects on attitudes regarding racism and sexism. Dissertation Abstracts International Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences, 36(2-A), 700.
Connolly, T. M., Boyle, E. A., MacArthur, E., Hainey, T., & Boyle, J. M. (2012). A systematic literature review of empirical evidence on computer games and serious games. Computers & Education, 59(2), 661–686.
Hainey, T., Connolly, T. M., Boyle, E. A., Wilson, A., & Razak, A. (2016). A systematic literature review of games-based learning empirical evidence in primary education. Computers & Education, 102, 202 – 223. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2016.09.001
Lawrie, J., Hainey, T. and Baxter, G. (2025). Development of a Serious Game for Practising Pronouns. 19th European Conference on Games Based Learning, Levanger, Norway, 1-3 October, 2025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.34190/ecgbl.19.1.4215
Mcintrye, L. E., Hainey, T. and Baxter, G. (2025). Developing a Serious Game for British Sign Language Education. 19th European Conference on Games Based Learning, Levanger, Norway, 1-3 October, 2025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.34190/ecgbl.19.2.4110
Scottish Government (2024). NHSScotland ‘Once for Scotland’ workforce policies: consultation. Health Workforce Directorate, Health and Social Care, ISBN 9781835219164. Available at https://www.gov.scot/publications/consultation-nhsscotland-once-scotland-workforce-policies/pages/3/ (Accessed: 30/09/2025).
Shaffer, D. W., Squire, K. R., Halverson, R., & Gee, J. P. (2005). Video Games and the Future of Learning. Phi Delta Kappan, 87(2), 105-111. https://doi.org/10.1177/003172170508700205 (Original work published 2005)