Games are a phenomenal way to learn new things. For whatever reason, the human brain lights up when it gets to play. And the things we learn don’t always even come from the game itself.

I recently received a new game that’s rather complex. It’s a cooperative space exploration game, designed to be played over several sessions. Taken in its entirety, completing the game could take 20 – 60 hours, in a series of many 2-hour games.

Given that investment of time and the complexity of the game, it’s no surprise that the rulebook includes a tutorial (which in itself takes about 3 hours to complete). The printed tutorial walks a new player through all the elements of the game, explaining everything one bit at a time.

Some people don’t learn best by reading through a tutorial, though. So, in addition to the printed rulebook, there’s a QR code. Scanning the QR code takes you to a video version of the tutorial, where you can watch and play along. For some people, watching the video is easier to understand than reading the rules.

The creators of this game know a thing or two about how people learn. Although the game can accommodate up to four players, they designed the tutorial with a single player in mind. Some people won’t learn the game well from reading the rules or watching a video. They need to experience playing the game with someone who knows how to play. The intention of the game’s designers is for one player to spend a few hours with the tutorial, and then understand the details of the game well enough to explain it effectively to a larger group of players.

Three different ways of learning. Reading a rulebook, watching a video, and experiencing the game with a knowledgeable player. Did that take extra time and effort on the part of the game designers? Probably. But their end goal was for people to enjoy playing a game they invested a lot of time and resources to create. By providing multiple ways of accessing the information needed to play the game, they accomplish their goal more fully.

They could have just written a rulebook and said, “If you want to know how to play the game, read the rules.” That’s all you get with some games. There are more ways to learn, but the creators of some games don’t take responsibility for providing anything beyond a printed rulebook.

Most likely, we’re in community with people who have different ways of learning how to play. Some people do best with written documents. Some people really take in things better if they can hear the information. For some people, watching a video they can pause and rewind gives them the best shot at understanding. Some people learn a thing most fully when they’re mentored by somebody who already knows how to play.

Does it take more effort to provide multiple ways of co-creating healthy community? It sure does. If our goal is to build and sustain fully accessible and inclusive spiritual community, though, it seems worth it. We might even learn something unexpected from one another when we seek to provide diverse ways of connecting and belonging.

Do you know your ideal style of learning and connection? How do you create space for other people’s ideal styles? How might we broaden the scope of how we engage with one another to co-create something amazing?

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