There is a potential for existing and ordinary gameplay to be repurposed into ways for looking at strategy in a fun way. This has inspired me to come up with a process prototype for unpicking gameplay mechanics and use them to inspire strategy design.
The process starts with needs analysis to help us understand the problems and challenges we wish to address.
The next step is to identify existing games that we are familiar with and it can be as basic as a game of ‘Hide and Seek’ (yes I revealed that this was one of my favourite games in my TEDx talk early this year!! :P). Is it possible to be inspired by the mechanics of ‘Hide and Seek’ to inform creative strategy? Within this step, the mechanics and dynamics of the game can be explored and player strategies can be brain(game)stormed.
Strategy-Mechanics mapping can be carried out in the following step, where the gameplay mechanics and strategies can be mapped againts possible solutions for addressing the needs (problems, challenges).
Once they have been tested and justified iteratively, the next step is to design, articulate and test a gameplan based on the mapping.
If this is carried out as a workshop involving more than 1 team, the final stage is to pitch the gameplan so that the different strategies can be consolidated.
The aim of this process is to help team members to look beyond traditional means for designing solutions to a problem or challenge. By reflecting on the experience of gameplay, constructing strategies can be more playful. There are commonalities as well as differences when it comes to our own strategy when playing a certain game. Looking at one or more games can help us to deconstruct gameplay and remix the mechanics into strategies for solving real problems.
This is now part of the GameChangers Tools- read more here (also slides).
Sylvester Arnab 
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