Playtesting as Rehearsal: Why the Real Work Begins After You Design

Every major leap in human learning has come from one thing: practice before performance. The printing press democratized knowledge. The scientific method democratized discovery. The digital age democratized access.

Experiential learning—especially serious games and scenario-based learning—democratizes adaptation. It lets us rehearse the future before we live it.

But there is one part of experiential learning that determines whether a scenario merely functions or whether it transforms: playtesting.

Beyond Debugging

Most people think of playtesting as a technical pass—checking rules, mechanics, user flow, or narrative consistency. But that's like mistaking a rehearsal for a sound check. In reality, playtesting is where the meaning of a scenario reveals itself.

This was never clearer to me than in the development of The Mirror Path, a re-playable scenario I recently designed with Michiel Doorn, co-author of The Cosmic Lens. His work explores an urgent truth: people want to contribute, serve, and lead—but feel overwhelmed, exhausted, or unsure where to begin amid climate anxiety, political polarization, and the rising demands of leadership.

When we co-developed The Mirror Path, we chose to focus on the most difficult part of personal transformation: facing your own intention and understanding its consequences.

Designing a Scenario That Stares Back at You

Drawing from Michiel's background in coaching and shamanic transformation practices, we structured the scenario around four archetypal phases of the hero's journey: The Call, The Trial, The Ally, and The Return.

At each stage, participants draw from a set of fifteen cards—reflective questions, metaphors, or insights—and choose one that resonates more deeply. This choice shapes how they reinterpret, revise, or deepen their intention.

In The Call, for example, the hero draws two cards and chooses one that resonates: "What are you truly seeking beneath the surface of your goal?" The hero reflects on this question based on their original intention and may choose to update it or proceed to the next stage.

In The Trial, the hero faces their greatest challenge: themselves. Drawing two cards and choosing one, the hero picks: "Your desire to help becomes control." This is not meant to be an accusation—the context is different for every person, every project, every goal. This reflection helps the hero dig deeper and unpack a truth.

Moving onto The Ally, the hero is joined by a guide or supporter. The hero draws two cards and chooses one that resonates: "The River: Flow replaces force." By choosing The River card, the hero reflects on how this insight can influence their original intention and possibly transform what seemed like an impediment into guidance.

In The Return, the hero comes full circle to greater understanding. Drawing two cards and choosing one, they choose "The path clears when the mind quiets." The hero reflects on this message and begins to reformulate their intention with new insight and conviction.

The process ends with The Mirror, a literal component in the center of the board, representing the truth each hero must claim: your intention is not out there; it is in you. The journey is meant to be spiral, to be revisited as often as needed.

What Playtesting Revealed That Design Alone Never Could

When we first tested The Mirror Path, something remarkable and unexpected happened. Players didn't just reflect on their intention. They felt it.

Some found clarity they didn't know they were seeking. Others discovered contradictions between what they said they wanted and what their choices revealed. Some were moved to tears. Some fell into deep insight. Some realized their goal was actually a shield.

Playtesting brought forward patterns that no design document alone could predict.

Here's what participants said about the first playtest with The Mirror Path scenario:

"I found strength and confidence I didn't expect."

"It helped me see something deeper that I'd been avoiding."

"I felt safe to express myself."

"This is different from workshops that try to make you do something. This helps you see something more."

"The balance of heart and head was perfect."

"This is a fantastic tool for engagement with families."

"It's a solid process—simple, but profound."

Why Playtesting Is Indispensable

-- Playtesting is more than debugging. It is meaning-making. Here's why it's indispensable, whether you're designing a leadership simulation, a public-health training scenario, a therapeutic experience, or a personal-development journey:

-- Playtesting reveals whether the scenario produces the desired transformation. A scenario might be clever. It might be well-written. It might work mechanically. But does it change people? Only playtesting answers that.

-- Playtesting uncovers relevance for the target audience. Every audience carries its own culture, pressures, fears, and motivations. Only by watching them in play do you see whether the scenario resonates or misses the mark entirely.

-- Playtesting exposes hidden assumptions in the design. Designers always make unconscious assumptions. Playtesters break them. Sometimes gently. Sometimes spectacularly.

-- Playtesting surfaces emergent insights that the designers never intended. This is the gold. The unplanned moments. The spontaneous meaning. The "I didn't expect that, but it matters." This is what turns a scenario into a living system.

-- Playtesting is a rehearsal for understanding complex systems. Participants begin to see the invisible forces shaping their decisions. Patterns. Feedback loops. Blind spots. When people practice understanding a system, they become more capable of navigating the real one.

Rehearsing Life Itself

Playtesting is a metaphor for how we learn in the real world: we make decisions, we see what happens, we adjust, we try again, we learn who we are through what we do.

It is, simply put, rehearsal for being human.

And in a world where crises are accelerating—climate change, political fragmentation, burnout among service professionals, and widespread anxiety—people need more than information. They need practice. Safe practice. Guided practice. Meaningful practice.

Experiential learning, supported by thoughtful, intentional playtesting, offers that path.

A Call to Action

If you design experiences for learning, transformation, or behavior change, build this into your process:

Do not launch without playtesting. Do not finalize without reflection. Do not assume you know the meaning until your participants show you.

Because playtesting isn't just about fixing the game. It's about letting the game fix us.