Prosperia
Presented at the UniCoop Fi 50th-anniversary celebratory event, Prosperia is a digital and physical board game about consumerism and extractive mentality versus cooperation and shared value as sustainable alternatives to the capitalist model.
The project has been developed for UniCoop’s conscious citizenship workshops for secondary schools.
The game has been created starting from scratch and released in 6 months as a digital multiplayer game mobile (iOS and Android) and physical fully printed board game.
The Challenge
As part of its CSR activities, UniCoop organizes citizenship workshops for secondary schools every year. Whitesock had already developed educational games for this purpose in the past (see the Chef Adventure and Simbioasi projects) but this time the challenge was more ambitious.
The project, in fact, would have been officially presented at the official celebration of the 50 years of UniCoop Firenze, a three-day event of great national importance, and therefore the needs linked to the educational project were added to the need for communication of values and vision of the brand.
For the development of the project, Whitesock worked with the institutional communications office and the educational projects office of UniCoop FI. Both requested a product that would be the center of an educational laboratory on sustainability but which, this time, would also talk about themselves and bring the brand onto the stage without turning the project into an advertisement.
A further challenge, which was added during the in-depth briefing, was that of creating both a digital multiplayer game and a board game in 5 months. This small amount of time should have included the time for playtesting (obviously) and printing 150 finished boxes.
Our Solution
The first resolution, immediately appreciated by the client, was to talk about the business model of cooperatives and compare it to the extractive approach of “classic” capitalism and its evolved form represented by purpose-driven profit organizations, which include ESG and shared value strategies. The game would have talked about economics and sustainability and the Coop brand would have represented the whole Cooperative model, compared in-game to the more common profit approach.
The game was therefore built on the conflict between individualism (ambition for wealth) and economic and social sustainability. In the system represented, there is an interdependent economy, the possibility of pushing consumption beyond what is necessary, economic and social unexpected events linked to the distribution of wealth, access to credit, training, and employment but also opportunities linked to digitalization and urban regeneration.
Impact
On 1th October 2023 at the Stazione Leopolda conference center, the project was presented to the public and playtested as part of the Firenze Gioca event, with 6 tables dedicated to the board game.
The project attracted the attention of the sector press (articles and reviews on portals related to board games and serious games) but also of the general press. A political debate linked to different interpretations of the game’s message took place in newspapers with opposing political orientations.
For UniCoop this was an opportunity to clarify and reiterate the company’s values externally but also internally.
The workshops in schools started in the spring and were a great success (impact analysis data, elaborated by the University of Florence and Game Science Research Center will be published soon).
Coop received hundreds of requests to purchase the board game (which was intended for classroom activities) from associations, consultancy companies, and private individuals.
The game was selected for several competitions and was a finalist in the best educational game competition of the 18th European Conference on Game Based Learning in Aarhus (Denmark)
Gameplay
A typical game of Prosperia begins with players, believing they recognize a familiar gameplay, trying to maximize the production and profits of their activities, aiming for a profit that aligns with individual victory.
While a ‘money-based’ victory is possible in Prosperia, forcing consumption and intensifying competition causes less fortunate players to lose wellness points and increases the likelihood of unexpected economic and social events with consequences for all players. Since a minimum level of wellness means defeat for everyone, even the most determined players will soon question the real sustainability of their approach.
The wisest or most courageous among them may decide to change their approach and invest in common spaces and social projects that improve everyone’s wellness. For those who abandon the extractive mentality, a new win condition emerges to be achieved together: letting go of the race for profit, joining cooperatives, and aiming for collective well-being.
About Prosperia
Tommaso Perrulli
School and social projects manager – Unicoop Firenze
The work of Whitesock on the Prosperia, Chef Adventure and Simbioasi projects has been very important because it has allowed us to successfully use the language of gaming in schools. Whitesock has been able to interpret the briefing and transform our content into original and engaging games that successfully explain value-based content, encouraging children to make conscious choices from a young age. Whitesock has proven to be a reliable and competent partner in creating effective, inclusive educational projects with a significant media impact.
