Narrative Context that Works – Creating Immersive Learning

Why Winery?

Why did we choose a Californian winery for the FLIGBY simulation? First, we needed a good story that captured people’s imagination. That’s essential for creating an immersive learning setup. But there is more to it.

Prof. Csikszentmihalyi himself proposed the subject of a winery back in 2008. He had two good arguments. First, the wine itself is already a “well-positioned” theme. Anyone who can consume a glass of wine with relish might also be opened to such great truths of life, like Flow. The other is a Hungarian relation. Our adventurous compatriot Agoston Haraszthy established the Californian wine business in the 1850s, shortly after he resigned from his position as a Sheriff of San Diego, but right before a crocodile in South America had eaten him.

Immersive learning: people love good stories

It is a fact that people love to learn through stories. A good story is a building block for video games and “serious games” using professional game mechanisms to create basics for immersive learning. This is especially true in the interactive film genre. The narrative context has several significant psychological advantages that help keep people engaged:

1. Business case studies work best as stories – We love to hear and tell stories. You can’t just give facts. For an immersive learning environment, it would be best if you placed them in the context of events sequenced with a beginning, middle, and end, some tension about how things will resolve, and detail about the people involved – that will engage audiences in something that becomes real because they can imagine themselves in the same narrative space.
2. Narratives tell players what to do – Game narratives give players hints about what to do, which helps with execution and tactics applied to larger goals. Game stories are designed as unfinished frameworks where players complete the narrative by living it.
3. Narrative increases Excitement and Attention – All good stories’ uncertainty creates excitement and tension that sustains player involvement. It focuses players on resolution and release (players attempt to reduce this excitement, especially if its source is a conflict).
4. Stories are compelling – It’s easier to remember information when presented in a narrative format.

Learning responsible leadership from Californian wineries

Managing a company these days should be more than just giving out orders and expecting profit at the end of the month. As Prof. Csikszentmihalyi explains in his book “Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning,” those who pursue building good business are creating an enjoyable work environment for their organization’s workers, through which a business’ (or any organization’s) “balanced scorecard” improves, thereby contributing to healthier and more sustainable societies at large. Californian winemaking can be a perfect example of good business because of its sustainable winegrowing practices that are applied almost worldwide.

Business is now our most crucial institution, so it has an obligation to the quality of life not just of its employees, but also of society. Good Business reveals how business leaders, managers, and even employees can find “Flow” and contribute not only to their own happiness, but also to improved organizational performance as well as to a just and evolving society.

The importance of Californian winemaking dates back to the late 18th century when Spanish missionaries planted their first vineyards to produce wine for the masses and daily life. Today, there are about 4,400 vineries – even though the Prohibition law between 1919 and 1933 ruined about 90% of the industry – ranging from small, family-owned “boutiques” to large corporations. The reason that makes the coexistence of these many vineries possible is hidden in the geological diversity of the region, which varies from the Mediterranean to continental and is also influenced by the Pacific climate. Climate, soil, sun, and water combined with the knowledge, dedication, and attention to detail give the uniqueness and quality of these wines.

In the early 1990s, winemakers and growers around the town of Lodi realized that in order to grow healthy, high-quality grapes that will produce delicious wines in the future, they must implement practices that preserve the environment (Environmentally Sound), contribute to society (Socially Equitable), and are economically feasible to implement and maintain (Economically Feasible). The combination of these three practices is called sustainable practices.

These are the significant considerations of the Sustainable Winegrowing Program of the California Wine Community:

1. Produce the best quality wine grapes and wine possible
2. Provide leadership in protecting the environment and conserving natural resources
3. Support the economic and social well-being of farm and winery employees
4. Respect and communicate with neighbors and community members
5. Honor the California wine community’s entrepreneurial spirit
6. Support research and education to expedite continual improvements

Sustainable Winegrowing

The California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance (CSWA), a nonprofit organization created in 2003, pioneered the promotion of sustainable practices in the California wine community. Those vineries that have already implemented the Sustainable Winegrowing Program are taking action to conserve water and energy, protect air and water quality, enhance relations with employees and communities, and preserve local ecosystems and wildlife habitat:

1. Limited resources – Effective water use, which is increasingly limited due to frequent drought in California, is enormously important. Managing the effective usage of water has the most significant impact on wine quality. Energy efficiency is directly linked to the pumping of water.
2. Awareness – The health of soil, water, and air are the key elements of grape quality. That’s why it is a priority for growers to use sustainable practices to maintain a nourishing ecosystem. These practices include reducing pesticides through continuous awareness and monitoring of the field and preserving biodiversity and wildlife.
3. Community – Most California vintners and growers live near their vineyards and wineries, meaning their dedication to sustainability is inevitable. Striving to provide a healthy environment by preserving natural landscapes and increasing economic vitality through employment, volunteering opportunities, and tourism are key elements of their engagement with the community and neighbors.

It is no coincidence that the story of the serious game FLIGBY takes place in a fine Californian vineyard, the Turul Winery. This scenery is a perfect backdrop for making decisions that help coworkers get into the Flow and protect the environment, in other words, to acquire the practice of good business that includes sustainability.

My organization is not a winery. Do its problems apply to my business?

Still, the question arises: how can a fictional Californian winery model authentic leadership and organizational dilemmas? In other words, it is possible to build up an immersive learning field relevant to management challenges in an act in a winery. We are convinced that it is. We have five essential arguments to prove it:

1. The winery as a site is sufficiently abstract – If the simulation were played in a “normal office” (a site where most of the users spend a significant amount of their time daily), people would be focusing primarily on the differences between the game and their praxis. They would enlarge such details that could substantiate the differences between the reality of their daily experiences and the story of the simulation. This would significantly impede the recognition of essential correlations and the start of experiential learning and experimenting. Therefore, the winery is a good site: people more or less know (or at least they think they know) what is going on at such a place, so they accept the storyline and focus on the conflicts highlighted by the simulation instead of unimportant details. Therefore, the attention can be focused on a specific target.
2. Real situations inspired the story – All the organizational dilemmas presented in FLIGBY were inspired by conflicts and common challenges that often occur in a multinational working environment. Our leading scriptwriter spent more than ten years in large enterprise environments, and an international team of professionals in leadership development supported his work. Prof. Csikszentmihalyi also played an active role in the finalization of the storyline and the characters and also in the development of the feedback system. So, the site is a winery, but the organizational dynamics displayed in the game are much more general and commonly known.
3. Microsimulation – FLIGBY is a microsimulation. It doesn’t model the whole professional operation of a winery; it concentrates on the conflicts within management. The focus is not on economic or viniculture issues but instead on the personal and organizational conditions needed for the development of such cooperation.
4. “Edutainment” – Expectations towards leadership development have significantly changed over the last couple of years. The participants in the company training became “internal customers “whose time is expensive and whose needs are complex. They want practical and readily applicable knowledge, while the time spent in training cannot be boring. Also, direct feedback and independent time schedules spent with learning must describe the immersive learning process. The winery environment shown in FLIGBY offers an exciting and entertaining form of learning. At the same time, the virtual interactions with the colleagues of the organization are realistic models of real workplace relationships.
5. Managerial tasks are constantly transforming – Dealing with interesting topics is becoming less privileged in today’s world. The network-based economy and project-oriented work organizations offer this option as a real alternative for more and more professionals. Learning about organizations that differ from the daily work routine is a popular intellectual challenge and also serves as a strong motivation for studying.