Cultural Play at a Distance: Post-COVID Serious Heritage Games

The COVID-19 pandemic introduced new challenges for the Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums (GLAM) sector, including drastically reduced visitation, constrained funding, and pressure to increase the amount and richness of digital rather than physical interaction. The authors draw upon explor...

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Main Authors: Susannah Emery, Erik Malcolm Champion
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-07-01
Series:Heritage
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2571-9408/8/7/262
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author Susannah Emery
Erik Malcolm Champion
author_facet Susannah Emery
Erik Malcolm Champion
author_sort Susannah Emery
collection DOAJ
description The COVID-19 pandemic introduced new challenges for the Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums (GLAM) sector, including drastically reduced visitation, constrained funding, and pressure to increase the amount and richness of digital rather than physical interaction. The authors draw upon explorative projects to examine the potential of serious games, augmented and virtual reality, and community-led design to address GLAM sector challenges raised by COVID-19. The initial findings suggest that while digital heritage projects often suffer from limited interactivity and accessibility, participatory game design and low-cost XR (extended reality) tools can enhance engagement and learning. The article concludes that open-ended, collaborative, and context-aware game frameworks offer a promising path for GLAM institutions to sustain relevance, support digital literacy, and adapt to post-pandemic challenges.
format Article
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publishDate 2025-07-01
publisher MDPI AG
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series Heritage
spelling doaj-art-e368f44d68544ab49df769a8866eea3c2025-08-20T03:58:31ZengMDPI AGHeritage2571-94082025-07-018726210.3390/heritage8070262Cultural Play at a Distance: Post-COVID Serious Heritage GamesSusannah Emery0Erik Malcolm Champion1UniSA Creative, University of South Australia, City West, Adelaide, SA 5001, AustraliaUniSA Creative, University of South Australia, City West, Adelaide, SA 5001, AustraliaThe COVID-19 pandemic introduced new challenges for the Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums (GLAM) sector, including drastically reduced visitation, constrained funding, and pressure to increase the amount and richness of digital rather than physical interaction. The authors draw upon explorative projects to examine the potential of serious games, augmented and virtual reality, and community-led design to address GLAM sector challenges raised by COVID-19. The initial findings suggest that while digital heritage projects often suffer from limited interactivity and accessibility, participatory game design and low-cost XR (extended reality) tools can enhance engagement and learning. The article concludes that open-ended, collaborative, and context-aware game frameworks offer a promising path for GLAM institutions to sustain relevance, support digital literacy, and adapt to post-pandemic challenges.https://www.mdpi.com/2571-9408/8/7/262GLAM sectordigital heritageserious gamesdigital heritageparticipatory game designaugmented reality (AR)
spellingShingle Susannah Emery
Erik Malcolm Champion
Cultural Play at a Distance: Post-COVID Serious Heritage Games
Heritage
GLAM sector
digital heritage
serious games
digital heritage
participatory game design
augmented reality (AR)
title Cultural Play at a Distance: Post-COVID Serious Heritage Games
title_full Cultural Play at a Distance: Post-COVID Serious Heritage Games
title_fullStr Cultural Play at a Distance: Post-COVID Serious Heritage Games
title_full_unstemmed Cultural Play at a Distance: Post-COVID Serious Heritage Games
title_short Cultural Play at a Distance: Post-COVID Serious Heritage Games
title_sort cultural play at a distance post covid serious heritage games
topic GLAM sector
digital heritage
serious games
digital heritage
participatory game design
augmented reality (AR)
url https://www.mdpi.com/2571-9408/8/7/262
work_keys_str_mv AT susannahemery culturalplayatadistancepostcovidseriousheritagegames
AT erikmalcolmchampion culturalplayatadistancepostcovidseriousheritagegames