Games and Learning Alliance (GALA) Conference 2024: Making Blockchain Education Accessible Through Gaming
The recent Games and Learning Alliance (GALA) Conference 2024 in Berlin GALA Conf 2024 – 20th-22nd November 2024 – Berlin School of Economics and Law | HWR Berlin showcased innovative approaches to serious games, with one standout presentation highlighting the Bloxxgame blockchain education platform. The three-day event, hosted by the Serious Games Society and Berlin School of Economics and Law, brought together academics and industry professionals focused on advancing educational gaming.
Walter Dettling presented Bloxxgame, a web-based simulation tool representing eight years of blockchain teaching research. The platform addresses a critical challenge in blockchain education: making complex decentralized systems comprehensible to non-programmers.
Bloxxgame simulates a blockchain similar to Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Cardano. Its key innovations include:
- Making blockchain mechanics accessible to students without coding experience
- Providing hands-on experience with decentralized consensus mechanisms
- Enabling non-technical instructors to teach blockchain fundamentals
- Offering practical exploration of theoretical concepts
The platform’s development reflects a broader trend at GALA 2024: creating serious games that balance educational value with engaging gameplay. This approach proves particularly valuable in teaching technical subjects like blockchain technology, where abstract concepts can be challenging to grasp through traditional methods.
Beyond Bloxxgame, the conference featured workshops, keynote speeches, and a game competition, fostering collaboration between educational institutions and game developers. This intersection of academic research and practical application demonstrates serious gaming’s potential to transform complex technical education.
Interested in trying BloxxGame? Try it here: Build. Play. Learn. – BloxxGame