It is increasingly recognised that having career goals, setting targets and taking ownership of their own future career plans can lead to more positive career outcomes in young people. To maximise their potential young people should start thinking about their future career at a young age. However many young people do not engage in career planning and personal development planning and lack aspirations, attitudes and confidence with respect to future careers. Over the last ten years there has been an upsurge of interest in using digital games for learning and attitude and behaviour change. This has emerged from optimism that the motivating features of entertainment games could also be deployed to motivate learning. However, games also offer methods of learning that are highly consistent with modern theories of effective learning, which propose that learning activities should be active, situated, problem based, interactive and socially mediated. Aims and objectives of the project: The aim of the current proposal is to develop a game-based approach to supporting awareness raising and behaviour change in the area of youth employability and career management. A game could provide an active, decision-making approach to supporting young people in thinking about employability and self-development by using motivational game mechanics that can induce in the users a sense of fun and self-actualisation patterns that will be helpful in raising awareness of issues. It seems likely that, as “digital natives” who have been brought up with digital technology, young people would find a game-based approach to employability and careers highly attractive. The YESGAME fits well with current thinking about employability and careers, putting the student at the centre of their career decisions. The YESGAME will be built around 4 key features that young people need to be aware of in thinking about their careers: self, strengths, horizons and networks (Scottish Government, 2012). The aim of the game is to make young people more aware that taking personal responsibility for planning their own career and having realistic goals is more likely to help them achieve satisfaction in their career. The game should also allow young people to realise that their future career prospects are not fixed and that some factors that impact on their employability are more broad-ranging and flexible than they might realise. The YESGAME will be a role-playing game where an in-game character has the opportunity to take part in a series of activities which will provide “experiences”, mini-games or “challenges” requiring a series of choices. During the design phase of the project, tasks will include a literature review of career management and decision-making resources; a review of existing digital employability and careers guidance resources; a user requirements analysis and design specification. Key activities during the implementation stage will be the development of the YESGAME and additional resources to support the game, such as a pedagogical guide and videos. Piloting of early prototypes of the game will determine the acceptability and usability of the game with a small number of end users of the game. In addition a larger scale evaluation will be carried out on the final version of the game to establish the value and effectiveness of the game in interesting and supporting young people in career management activities. Best practice case studies and use case scenarios will provide further guidance about how best to use the game with different groups of young people. A range of dissemination activities to increase awareness and interest in the game amongst key stakeholders and interested parties, will be carried out during the project: a project Web site will be established; newsletters will be distributed, dissemination events will be held for employability and careers guidance practitioners and refereed academic & professional papers will be written. Game design, development and evaluation will be an iterative process. User requirements and design specification will use a negotiation-centric user-led design process. Results of piloting of early game prototypes with a small number of end users will feed into the refinement of the final game. A larger scale evaluation of the final version of the game will establish the value and effectiveness of the game in interesting and supporting young people in career management activities. It is hoped that the YESGAME will contribute to enhanced potential for career management skills, with young people taking more responsibility for planning their own career and having aspirational but realistic career goals. This will not just help them to achieve more satisfaction in their career. It could potentially increase their career mobility and resilience in the global employment market and make a significant contribution to the future of the youth and thus the European economy.