Frequently Asked Questions
Before Playing
Participa City is a role-play game designed to help participants reflect on racism, discrimination, inclusion and participation in everyday life. Through different scenarios set in a fictional city, participants experience situations from multiple perspectives, including affected persons, observers, bystanders, decision-makers and people reproducing discriminatory behaviour.
Participants learn how everyday and structural racism can look like. They better understand how different it is perceived whether we are victims, observers, beneficiary or decision-makers. Participants strengthen their ability to reflect on racism: To what extent are we all embedded in systems of racism that shape our socialisation and continue to influence society? The consequences of racist behaviour are made visible. The role-play methodology supports competence development by combining cognitive learning with emotional and experiential engagement. By taking on different roles participants encounter complex situations that require reflection and decisionmaking. These simulated experiences provide a safe environment to explore perspectives, question assumptions, and test alternative courses of action.
It addresses mainly decision makers, multipliers, certain professionals like public administration staff, teachers and educators, social workers, NGO staff, company employees and managers, professionals in services that influence access, participation and equal opportunities and other interested adults. It can be adapted to different target groups.
Participa City is a serious game and simulation, not a game for entertainment. While the role-play format can be engaging and interactive, the scenarios address serious and sometimes sensitive topics related to racism, discrimination, inclusion and participation. The aim is to create an experiential learning environment in which participants can explore different perspectives, reflect on their own assumptions and discuss possible actions. The game can be enjoyable in the sense of being engaging and interactive, but its main purpose is learning, reflection and developing awareness.
No, the game is designed for adult education. The scenarios cannot be played with children since they are not located in children’s reality. With strong adaptation and embedded in other activities, it might be possible to play it with youngsters of higher age.
No, the game is designed to be played in person and will not have the same effect if played online, because the focus is on participants social interaction and feelings what discrimination is which is very hard to bring across in a digital format.
Trainers must be well prepared and need competences in working with groups. Having experiences in the topic of racism and discrimination is again very helpful. The game should not be facilitated by unexperienced persons. The trainer manual explains in detail the role and tasks of the trainer. It is a guideline for all persons interested in facilitating the simulation.
The simulation comprises of 17 scenarios at different locations in Participa City out of which the trainer selects a number of scenarios to be played. The trainer manual gives detailled information about all scenarios and how to combine them. Optional and supportive elements are the Anti-Discrimination Advisory Board (ADB) as an observer group and the intermediate stations to deepen the knowledge and understanding of discrimination.
No, the 17 scenarios cannot be played in one simulation. The trainer has to choose the scenarios according to the target group, the competences to be trained, the group size and the time frame. The simulation will take at least half a day. It is better to take more time and to play more scenarios in a whole day.
Participa City can be played with different numbers of participants. In each scenario, 3 to 5 participants play a respective situation. The group size has an impact on the number of scenarios that can be played. The possible number of participants ranges from 6 to 17. Different group sizes allow for different combinations of scenarios and for staying in a role or changing the roles necessarily. The optional element AntiDiscrimination Advisory Board can have a flexible size of 1 to 3 members per scenario and helps the trainer to react on sudden changes in number of participants.
In general the game can be lead by 1-3 trainers according the group size. The more scenarios are played in parallel the more trainers are potentially needed. If only one station is played at the same time or maybe even two, one trainer will usually be sufficient.
Preparing & playing the game
The trainer chooses a number of scenarios and prepares carefully all necessary documents such as the biography cards and the game instruction cards for each player. After a reading phase, the participants play the scenario, and after about 20 minutes, the trainer stops the role play. There is a short reflection in the roles before the next play round with new scenarios starts. At the end of the simulation, there is an overall reflection which is a very important part of the simulation.
No, the trainer assigns the roles to the participants beforehand in the planning process of the simulation game. It is important that the simulation is well prepared.
Roles should be assigned thoughtfully. Trainers should consider the learning goals, group dynamics and possible emotional impact of each role. It can be useful for participants to experience different perspectives, for example by moving from a decision-maker role to an affected person role, or from an observer role to an active participant role.
Yes and no. It depends on the profession and the specific group and learning objective whether it is recommended or not. If participants play scenarios from their own professional field, they might have difficulties to get into the role. They might rather play themselves instead of the role which is not the aim of the simulation. For the reflection round, it is in any case reasonable to explain the scenario from their own profession and to use it for further discussions.
No, there are no scripts. The roles are tools for feeling, reflecting and learning. The characters get biography cards and game instruction cards. Then, the participants play the situation in the shoes of the role. Participants are encouraged to enter the role as much as possible with their own words. They do not need to perform perfectly.
Yes, the Anti-Discrimination Advisory Board (ADB) has only the task to observe the scenarios. They take notes about their observations, but do not play actively. The members of the ADB will report about their observations in the debriefing phase. The ADB is an optional game element but it is strongly recommended to include it because its size is flexible and can be adjusted to the number of participants.
For the trainer, it is important to be well prepared and familiar with the game structure. There has to be enough time to prepare the room. The equipment such as tables, chairs, room dividers, documents as others have to be available. In the trainer manual, trainers find a description about what is needed. Trainers are facilitators and should not intervene in the play unless there are serious disturbances (s. below). Especially during the debriefing, the trainers have an important role to facilitate reflection, open exchange and the development of alternative actions for discriminating situations.
During & after the game
In the trainer manual, different methods for debriefing are described in detail to support the trainers guiding the reflection phase. Methods such as 4-F-Method, Metaphor Thinking, case counselling or the use of knowledge and action cards are helpful tools with different focuses to be used in the reflection phase.
Yes, but only as part of the fictional role-play. The scenarios are based on real-life situations and intentionally simulate discriminatory attitudes, language and behaviours, with the pedagogical goal to make racist structures and mechanisms visible, tangible and open to discussion. In this clearly defined play situation, participants may encounter or enact behaviours that reproduce racism; this is a deliberate pedagogical device and does not endorse or legitimise such behaviour beyond the role-play. The purpose is to help participants recognise, question and reflect on how racism operates, including in unconscious or institutionalised forms, and ultimately to strengthen their capacity to challenge and reduce racism. However, scenarios might be challenging or triggering, therefore participants should be informed in advance about the nature and purpose of the simulation. Trainers should establish clear boundaries, allow participants to step out of a role or pause at any time, and provide sufficient time for debriefing and reflection afterwards.
Strong emotions can occur, especially when participants have personal experiences of racism or discrimination. Trainers should respond sensitively, avoid pressure, and give participants space if needed. No participant should be forced to share personal experiences. The trainer should support the group while maintaining a respectful and safe environment.
If the game stalls or participants struggle to act, the trainer can provide gentle support, clarify instructions or briefly freeze the situation and help participants continue. Intermediate stations, virtual news posts or guiding questions can also help stimulate engagement.
If the role-play becomes too intense, offensive or harmful, the trainer should intervene. The aim is to protect the learning space while keeping the focus on reflection. The trainer may pause the game, clarify boundaries, remove offensive content from the virtual news forum, or address the issue during debriefing.
Prepare carefully, create a safe space, manage time well and give enough attention to reflection. The role-play itself is important, but the real learning happens when participants are guided to reflect on what they experienced and connect it to real-life action.