In this hands-on College Edge seminar, you will use generative AI to design and play computer-based games that help investigate real-world issues, from climate change and ocean acidification to social systems, ethics, and human decision-making. Instead of only reading about complex problems, you will build games that model them, test how people respond, and use what you learn to ask better questions and design new challenges.

Working in small groups, you will experiment with different types of games and simulations, including strategy games, debate-style games, and role-based scenarios inspired by ideas like the Prisoner’s Dilemma, the Socratic method, and devil’s-advocate thinking. Along the way, you will learn how large language models work, how to collaborate effectively with AI, and how to use AI as a creative and analytical partner rather than a shortcut.

The course also explores the ethical dimensions of AI and game design. You will examine questions of accuracy, bias, authorship, and credit, and consider what humans contribute when AI becomes part of the creative process. Throughout the course, you will have frequent hands-on interactions with generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, both through direct chat-based work and through specialized gamification software provided by the instructor.

By the end of the course, you will have practical experience using AI and game design to explore complex ideas, collaborate with others, and think critically about technology and the world it helps us model.