Introspective: Holding On

[@cardophagus]

I have worked as an Occupational Therapist on an end of life ward at a hospice in the UK. Although like you say, Holding On cannot cover all aspects of the working life of a palliative nurse... it does show case one aspect that many patients would present. This is that many would come in, and if they had unresolved issues from their life, they would 99% of the time actually hold on until they had resolved their problems. It became part of my and other OTs roles (also the chaplain) to do this as we work hollistically. Not every time a patient would be able to work through their problems before letting go of life, yet many would. With this said I feel the game Holding On does a great amount to capture what it is like on an end of life ward. What it does not explore is the collective emotional strain and sadness of all of the other patients and families on the ward. I do like the stress mechanism, that is effective. Also, as an Occupational Therapist I would like to look further into the use of board games as an educational tool for patients in a number of settings. Such as a game that explores the life of someone who has dementia, a learning difficulty or a mental health illness... and how they go about (with help from medical clinicians) improving their lives. I am hoping that the emerging narrative play adds to the way a patient can be helped from these games.

[@rorydoconnor]

If you are willing, I would really appreciate the opportunity to talk to you about your experience. If I ever make another Holding On, I know it needs to be more nuanced an experience.

[@cardophagus]

Of course, I will message you on BGG.

[@StefanLopuszanski]

Very topical as my mom recently fell and after surgery is now in a nursing home for rehab. She also has dementia and it has become much worse since all this happened. It is very tough and it has really reinforced my hate of our health care system, but I have a lot more respect for health care workers though in general.

[@keithhammons2605]

Thanks Scott!

[@aaronsullivan4254]

Thanks, Scott.

[@mikehulsebus]

Always glad to hear your thoughts! Thanks

[@Seryn88]

A thought provoking discussion. Games have great potential for teaching but it can be very easy to get caught up in a binary mode of thinking, win/lose, us vs them etc, with a lot of nuance lost in the need for 'balance'.

[@HelderP83]

Just recently found your channel. This series seem quite interesting and the topic of this one was quite thought-provoking. Thank you for sharing!

[@rorydoconnor]

Great video, Scott. The challenge I find with serious games, is trying to find ways to mitigate metagaming. In the real world, life is chaotic. There is rarely an obviously optimal play, and if there is, emotional factors are often acting against you making the choice. Then, no matter what choice you make, there’s no one to tell you that you made the right choice. In a game, you rarely have those factors acting upon you, so optimal choices seem obvious, or the repercussions less onerous. Cracking that nut is a real challenge to me.

[@ScottNicholson]

I think part of it is the need for a facilitator and a reflection after the game. Learning is doing and reflecting, so without the reflection, it's hard to make a difference. The reflection can help with some of the metagaming issues, as the players can be asked to talk about their choices, and the facilitator can provide additional context. The game should be seen as part of a larger process, and players have to step back from the player mindset in the game to have a reflection. I tried to do this in one serious board game by having cards with discussion questions that were to be read out loud at the end of each stage of the game with mixed results; there needed to be a participant who was interested in ensuring there was time for a discussion.

[@rorydoconnor]

@@ScottNicholson Agreed that a faciltator can definitely help with reflection. But then, it begs the question can a serious game be played at home or with friends? I liken it to watching a movie that really gives me something to think about. My goal is to create games that do something similar without the need for a facilitator. At least that's the challenge I set myself.

[@IndependentOutsider]

I have not played Holding On: The Trouble with Billy Kerr yet, but I definitely intend to do so. There are two themes and messages here that resonate to me. 1). People’s stories matter. And closure for those at the end of life is important. My mother passed recently, and the most important thing to her (as she communicated to those close to her) was an amicable closing of her affairs and that her two sons were “taken care of.” Every persons situation is different. But listening to the persons story is key. 2). Communication with someone with dementia. I wasn’t aware until recently, but speech aphasia is a form of dementia and something my mom suffered from for fifteen years. Although spoken word is different, I remember the difficulty my mom had with texting, and the blurred out tiles in this game parallel the issue some. It is obvious this is a game that delves into emotional topics, and I am interested in how the message is directed (as Scott alluded to later in his video). I am truly glad these types of games are emerging, and it sounds as though the publishers and designers took great care with this particular project (billy Kerr).

[@livejapan]

Thanks for this video. It indeed has made me a bit introspective.

[@GregorMcNish]

I would love to see a bgg geek list on Serious Games. I don't think I've ever played anything that is trying to get me to empathise with a situation. Actually, come to think of it, I found The Grizzled to be very harrowing, sacrificing and taking risks for others, and often for naught-- though I've only played it one evening because it was depressing. Do you find a group has to decide up front to take a serious game seriously? I quite like Kolejka-- the game itself is light-hearted, but the cards and manual depict a real historical situation that people lived through, so it gets conversations started even if the game itself isn't emotionally heavy.

[@Sweetestsadist]

This War of Mine is a good game if you like to bring misery to the table. A good portion of the game is making decisions you don't want to make.

[@KerryHallPhD]

spent should have been unfair? good serious talk

[@ScottNicholson]

If the life situation that someone is trying to model is unfair, then yes, the game that's trying to demonstrate that life situation should be unfair.

[@divinentd]

My thought watching this was that it could be re-balanced so that you don’t make it to the end of the month like 95% of the time, with the game goal shifting to be, “can the human body survive on water until the next month from the point at which you ran out of money for food?” Same game, still has a win condition, just hitting the message harder.

[@Walsfeo]

​@@ScottNicholson Or "could be" unfair. Modes in games aren't unusual, so a "real life mode" could be random and potentially unwinnable, much like Pandemic when the cards are in the wrong order. But that doesn't mean other modes liked hard, well balanced, or easy, couldn't be included. All it requires is a bigger budget of time and money.