Let it Bee: A Case Study of Applying Triadic Game Design for Designing Virtual Reality Training Games for Beekeepers

The Triadic Game Design (TGD) framework is a way to structure the design process of serious games along the worlds of reality, meaning, and play. We used TGD to undertake the first steps in designing serious virtual reality games for training of beekeepers. Beekeeping is a demanding activity as it requires both theoretical knowledge and physically demanding practice. Current educational offers can only rely on "traditional" media such as texts, images, and videos. Training with actual bee hives would be desirable but is difficult to provide, for a variety reasons (e.g., bees being very sensitive organisms). After an initial assessment of the current state of things, we developed a simple VR prototype, where players had to find a queen inside a hive. We then used this prototype to conduct a user study with beekeepers of different competency levels and elicited information about beekeeping in general, the specific game experience, and how such a game could help in the future of beekeeper training. We identified seven learning modes and developed three of them further into game concepts that focus on different aspects. We reflect on how Triadic Game Design supported our design process and provide a hands-on overview of seven steps that future designers can follow in similar circumstances.