Using gamification, how can the mentoring experience be disrupted: re-framed & re-designed to provide wider accessibility and engagement?
An olive branch
A symbol of peace; something you say or do to show that you wish to make peace with somebody
Oxford Learner’s Dictionary
Choosing an olive branch to represent my Golden Bough initially came as a surprise. However, the more I was avoiding thinking about it, in order to explore better options (see below on this), the more this one stuck. Interestingly, I still keep finding more and more reasons behind it.
The olive branch & me
Let me start from the most obvious point – well, the olive branch is literally a piece of nature. The inevitable connection between human and nature is something that moves me deeply. Regularly observing myself, I encounter new evidences on how important this union is. Going back to my childhood and my Macedonian roots, the olives have always been the border trees – the ones that are seen only when one gets close to the border or when they cross it. Back in the days – it was the physical border between Bulgaria and Greece, today – it is the border of my imagination. And of course that magical green colour, oh! It is there, but it is also not!
I noticed I sometimes tend to be a perfectionist. I struggle to leave things unfinished, or to start doing them at all, unless I am sure the result will be satisfactory (to my imaginary standards). So every now and then there is this internal war to start creating and enjoy the imperfection vs. “don’t bother now, it’s not going to be good enough”. With the olive branch, I would like to offer internal peace and allow the former side to win. At least for now.
Last, but not least, I would like to give some peace to my thoughts from the war outside – pandemic, economic crisis, politics, work.. Finding peace and quietness and comfort in my own mind is what I hope the olive branch will give me.
The olive branch & my project
To get through the second year of my studies, I believe I would need to develop further my patience and persistence skills. I am exploring the practise of meditation and building healthy daily habits to enable me test these boundaries.
I would also like to gain more in-depth knowledge on mentoring. I have been volunteering as a mentor for the past 3 months and I have built a network of other mentors and mentees. I would need to use the olive branch to further create peaceful connections with mentoring communities – to gather feedback and test ideas.
Applying the olive branch through the gamification prism, I want to explore the fundamental gaming principles, and methods for creating and testing games. Where winning or losing shouldn’t matter. Where the importance should be on the game. I am still to look for relevant literature and articles and to contact relevant stakeholders.
Last but not least, by answering my question, I would love to offer peace out to the world – more people finding help and inner peace by being mentors and/or being mentees. Maybe by trying to disrupt the mentoring process, I would be aiming to create a new, different type of relationship – more equal, more sustainable, more peaceful. Like an olive branch.