

“When a person learns something in a fun way, knowledge is effectively grasped and understood.”
14.5.2024
Cyber Citizen is also a Homo Ludens
For many of us, cybersecurity isn’t that interesting – until something bad happens to us or our loved ones. That’s why our project set out to see how we could inspire people to learn about cybersecurity in different ways – even those who aren’t that interested in the topic. Just as digital threats take advantage of different human characteristics, we decided to take advantage of people’s innate desire to play.
Although we may think that play is for children, the human species is after all Homo Ludens, a playing man. Playing games as a form of learning is an interesting and entertaining way to teach various warning signs, threats, and complex concepts.
We began by looking at how citizens’ cybersecurity is currently being addressed in different EU countries. In the same way, we started to design the game by mapping out what kind of games already exist. Then we assessed how we could benefit from their solutions in our own game.

Screenshots from the upcoming game
We realised that the best learning games are not only informative, but also entertaining. Creating enjoyment and motivation is the first step in achieving positive learning outcomes.
With this in mind, we looked to the current games market for ideas, and identified the business tycoon game genre as an ideal basis for integrating cybersecurity lessons into the game.
This is how we created the vision and the plan for the game, which is primarily designed for mobile platforms, but can also be played on PC. The game provides an immersive experience while promoting the adoption of cybersecurity attitudes, knowledge, and skills.
Stay tuned to hear more about our project and our game!
Get to know us at cyber-citizen.eu/en and network with us in LinkedIn as @Cyber Citizen.
Janne Riiheläinen, Cybersecurity Specialist
“You humans have such a variety of cognitive abilities that can be used for good or bad. I use them to make money, lots of money, tons of money, and then some more money!”
“You humans have such a variety of cognitive abilities that can be used for good or bad. I use them to make money, lots of money, tons of money, and then some more money!”

“You humans have such a variety of cognitive abilities that can be used for good or bad. I use them to make money, lots of money, tons of money, and then some more money!”