How do we navigate and make sense of highly complex, unpredictable systems? In this feature, PIECES speaks with Sebastian Bae—Senior Game Designer at CNA Corporation and Adjunct Assistant Professor at Georgetown University. As a leading expert in wargaming and educational game design, he reveals why a defensible schema (mental model) and structured debriefing are far more vital to learning than flashy mechanics or graphics.

Q. As a game designer and educator, what do you believe is the single most effective element in game design that helps learners grasp and navigate highly complex, unpredictable systems?

Every educational game has an internal schema -- or a mental model on how the topic of the game fundamentally works.

Consequently, the designer translates that schema into the mechanics, components, and gameplay for the game system.

Thus, a game's roots begin in that schema and everything stems from it -- from its assumptions to its perspective. And I have found that educational games that have a convincing and defensible schema is critical. For instance, if you are a journalist, and I design a game that doesn't reflect the journalism field as you know it, then that game cannot produce the liminal effect of gameplay. Games are in essence interactive stories where players are characters and authors of the ending. However, learning and playing only happen when that story is compelling.

Second, I would say educational games work best when there is a structured reflection session after gameplay. Gameplay allows you to explore a complex system through decisions and interactions. But the structured reflection allows players to internalize learning -- it is what makes learning enduring. Also it allows players to compare their perspectives and their respective learning.

I will add people often focus on the flashy parts of game design like mechanics, maps, gameplay, and graphics.

But calibrating and creating the schema is the foundational part. It is akin to focusing on grammar and style in a paper without thinking about the argument or substance of said paper.

Games are ultimately interactive stories where players act as both characters and authors of the outcome.

Yet, enduring learning occurs only when gameplay is grounded in a compelling, realistic schema and paired with structured reflection. As educators and designers craft tools to decode complex realities, Sebastian Bae’s insights serve as a powerful reminder of what truly drives meaningful systems thinking.

Sebastian Bae, Senior Game Designer, CNA

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