Board Games

Despite what one might initially think, board games are not simply a fun game, but also serve as a useful tool in order to obtain more information about users.

Main Idea: 

A board game in the context of software engineering is based on a regular traditional board game, but usually with slight modifications so it works better in context. For example one could use a pre-existing board game like "Snakes and Ladders" or "Monopoly" as basis for the gameplay of the project, and then subsequently change the aesthetic and visual design in order to apply it to your product. For examplle, instead of  using Monopoly's design which is based on a housing district, one could keep the basic ideas of squares around a layers advance, and yet place it inside a school or another environment more appropiate for the investigation. 
The key aspect of using board games is to acquire accurate information regarding your users, it is usually better to directly observe how others act than to simply ask them about their actions, because by asking there is always the risk of the person lying or not being sufficiently self aware to objectively analyze their own behaviour.

Benefits: 

a)  The principles of gamification are being applied.
b) It forces participants to speak, otherwise conversations might be dominated by 1 or 2 people with everybody else being silent.
c) Allows cooperation.
d) Useful for creative proccesses.