As part of the Grande Fête du Travail organised by the ArTLib collective on May 15 and 16 2025, meet José Rose, Emeritus Professor of the Sociology of Labour, member of ArTLib and creator of the game TraLib. Game sessions will be held on Thursday 15 May from 3pm to 5pm in the Maison Neuve conference room.
Can you introduce yourself?
I’m José Rose, Emeritus Professor of Sociology at Aix Marseille Université. I trained as an economist, then as a labour sociologist. I belong to the Laboratoire d’Economie et de Sociologie du Travail (UMR 7313, CNRS/amU) whose research focus is labour and all the issues surrounding it. For the past seven years I have been a member of the Atelier de recherche Travail et Liberté (ArTLib) at Iméra, the Institute for Advanced Study of Aix Marseille Université
A serious game on labour
Why did you decide to create a serious game in the shape of a card game?
Being retired has given me more time and more freedom. Continuing to take part in ArTLib has given me an extra space of freedom that expands my imagination tenfold. I’ve always thought that the debate around work was central to our lives and that everyone had a lot to say. Today, the pressing need is no longer to write yet another labour science textbook, but to exchange our points of view and share our experiences of work. Games struck me as the ideal medium. A serious game has the advantage of combining fun with reflection on our own relationship with work, how we behave when we’re part of a group, how we position ourselves in social debates on the subject, etc. The possibilities are endless.
How does one play TraLib?
It is a card game and a conversation game. You don’t play to win; the pleasure of a game is to extend and enrich a conversation about work. Each player takes on the role of a different character over the course of several sequences. So there’s also a role-playing aspect. Playing different roles in the world of work (troublemaker, activist, neo-slave, etc.) and not being yourself gives the player freedom and forces them to change their perspective. The game is quite varied and interactive, with many characters available, but also blank cards for players to add characters or situations themselves.
During the first sequence, the players are presented with event cards to which they must react together by discussing. Then they move on to the project cards, which they have to work on collectively, such as inventing an innovative system or improving the quality of life at work. As in real life, the players, through their characters, find themselves at the heart of an unchosen team and have to deal with the unexpected and the variety of possible reactions. Finally, the last sequence consists of drawing four character cards and discussing within the group to classify them from least free to most free. Except that it’s not that easy to think about what freedom means, and above all, there is no right or wrong answer.
A game inspired by the discussions in the atelier de recherche Travail et Liberté
How did your approach as a labour sociologist inform the design of this game?
This game was born within ArTLib, it was nourished by our exchanges, as well as by the production of our first book which dealt with labour and freedom. These themes are at the heart of my TraLib game. As a sociologist, I’ve accumulated a certain amount of knowledge about the history of labour, professions, situations and a whole host of other things that form the background to this game. The main contribution was the material made available on the character sheets, such as the historical references, the article references and the emphasis on the possible variety of incarnations of each character. As a labour sociologist, I have a certain outlook on work, so the characters and situations I propose are steeped in it.
Who is this game for?
I first tested it at university with students and teachers. It is well suited to courses in the labour sciences (economics, sociology, management, ergonomics, psychology) and can be useful for teachers experimenting with new teaching methods, at the Inspé for example. Another possible audience is guidance and job placement services at university or even at the end of secondary school. This game can be a good starting point before embarking on a job search or building a CV. France Travail and the local missions could also be involved. We could also imagine TraLib being used by human resources departments during induction seminars or as part of team-building activities. My ambition is also to test the game with trade unions and employees.
What would you like players to remember or experience when they play this game?
One of the main things to remember is that the game must not be used to evaluate participants and their reactions. Taking part in a serious game implies a contract of trust, where the game constitutes a protected and above all fictional space for the player. Without trust, they are no longer free to play.
Above all, I’d like players to remember that you can’t choose your colleagues, but that it is possible to work collectively with different profiles. The variety that’s imposed produces unexpected things that are often more positive than you might imagine. This is clearly evident during a game of TraLib. The participants will certainly keep their divergent opinions at the end, but having played a game has at least given them a time of freedom to experiment with other points of view.
