World Peace Game Day 1

I was so nervous when I began giving my directions, almost breathless.  I had stayed up until past 3am the night before, making sure I understood the game, watching the video, re-watching the TED talk, reading and re-reading the book, combing other people's blogs for tips, preparing for contingencies, revising crisis scenarios on the situation document I was going to give the students, and carefully looking over the game pieces I had amassed.   (I had a few brief moments of feeling bad that my game board was not gorgeous and Plexiglas, but that means I will have something to look forward to getting for next year.)

I felt a bit like a high school dungeon master, setting the stage for my students to embark on an imaginary journey into a fantasy world.  I felt anxious that I'd explain things incorrectly or that I misunderstood an essential part of the game.  Plus, quite honestly, I was so exhausted I had spots in front of my eyes.  (I'm 40 years old, no spring chicken able to pull all nighters anymore.)

After the first day I play, all I could say was that I wanted training.  Seriously, trying to do this game without training or any guidance, I realized I'm missing something.  (By the end of the game, I actually felt more capable, but training would have saved me so much work.)  At 2:30 on the first day, when the kids went out to P.E., I threw myself into a chair in my Principal's office, pulled my hair, and whined, "Arg!  I'm afraid the kids are not going to make peace!"  (She laughed at me, for the record.)  I definitely wondered how these kids would possibly pull off world peace.  There was a core group of them fixated on world domination, arming nuclear weapons, and blowing away all opposition.  Could the objectives of the game be met if they had that obsession?

Description of the Game Board:

The game board is a four level tower.  On the bottom level, we have the sea level.  The next level is the ground level, which shows the boundaries of each of the four countries as well as their military, factories, natural resources, etc.  In the ocean are their boats including naval forces, fishing vessels, and underwater sea vessels.  The next level up is the airspace above each country which includes the clouds, airplanes, and I used wikki sticks to make each country's air space, etc.  Finally, on the top level, is the space level.  On this level, I had some symbolic stars as well as a satellite defense system, international space station and rocket.

There were four countries (one oil rich, one agriculture/technology rich, one poor with few resources, and one "philosophically mandated to preserve the planet".  Each country had an office in the classroom.  In addition, there was a work space for the World Bank, United Nations, and Arms Dealers.  (The arms dealers later complained that someone was raiding their stores, and ended up relocating themselves to the farthest corner of the class.)

Day 1

When the kids came in, I had our board set up.  In the absence of expensive Plexiglas, I fashioned a board out of two tables, four white boards and several coffee cans.  It wasn't gorgeous or anything, but it served its purpose.  I set up the four countries and the coral reef, as well as many of the natural resources before the kids came in.

We began with me explaining the game and placing pieces on the board as I explained the world crises.  (Next year, I want to make a key where I include images of the different items, but for this year, I just placed and described.)  I invited students to be prime ministers of the four nations, Secretary General of the UN, leader of the world bank, lead arms dealer and head weather controller.  (I chose the prime minsters and arms dealers using a random student chooser I found on Alice Keeler's blog, and I specifically chose the weather controller, world bank president and Secretary General based on their ability to serve in the role.)  I also secretly communicated with the saboteur, one person who is sort of like a sleeper spy determined to sabotage the game while appearing to everyone else

After I chose the leaders, I let them know they would be able to choose their own cabinet/partners.  I warned them that they might have a more difficult time if they chose their friends.  (Of course, they didn't listen, and of course, this led to some interesting play.)  There was a shuffle of students.  I needed to intervene because the largest, richest country also had 6 people, and I needed the UN to have a minimum of 3 for a quorum but only had two volunteers. At first, they tried to oust a person who was not their closest friend, but I overruled that, and eventually one of the boys stepped up and volunteered to move.  (No happily, but he soon adjusted and participated in the game very well.)  The smallest country naturally had very few cabinet members.  It was kind of amazing how they sorted themselves out the way they did.

After the cabinet formation, I handed out each country's dossier with their specifications, assets to be inventoried, and blank inventory sheet, as well as their rules for game play.  (I plan to revise this next year, for sure.  The students had tons of great feedback at the end, for example, telling me we needed some people (not just toy soldiers) and actual sources of food.  I didn't have water sources on the board at the beginning, but I ended up adding them later.  The students were given a brief time to inventory their pieces, place them on the board, name their country and create a flag.  They arrived at the following names:  Coleasa (green nation), Ploop (purple nation), Benzia (brown nation) and Hope United (orange nation).  I borrowed heavily from Wikipedia in creating the different country specifications, so I won't share it right now.  By next year, I will have a more personalized version along with a list of assets as my key.  The dossier also had blank copies of peace treaties which needed to be signed by all countries involved as well as the United Nations.  They also had blank trade agreements.

Finally, we began our first declaration phase.  I began with a reading from Sun Tzu's Art of War as John Hunter suggests.  It seemed to me a sort of paradox, though.  There are three objectives to the game.

Objectives of the Game (A.K.A. How to Win the Game)

1. The crises between the countries, cultures and environment need to be resolved.  (I used many of the crisis scenarios from this wiki.  (Thanks, Mr. Trygar! Thanks Patrick and Stefanie!)
2. Every country’s asset value to raise their net worth.
3. Peace, economic stability and consensus are necessary for a winning condition.

The paradox lies in the fact that the materials, crises and even the philosophical reading lead the students to think of war.  It's very synonymous with the "real world" where there is a clear objective, but the context or the environment surrounding the objective actually contrast your end goal.  My first instinct, especially after Day 1, was to change the materials, but after playing the game through, I can see the cycle of play more clearly.  I do think I'll add some people to the board next time I play.

Immediately, the students began declaring some very simplistic "too easy" solutions.  For example, they made peace treaties without actually solving the conflicts between their countries, or they said they planted farms without addressing the environmental issues that would prevent growth in their lands.  I felt badly having to call them to the carpet, ask specifics, and require details.  Imagine prime ministers standing to make their declarations in front of their friends, and me refusing to accept their solutions.  Imagine nervous eyes looking around at their classmates.  I felt really mean.  I know it isn't mean to hold students to high expectations, to give them opportunities to expand their creative thinking, but I felt mean.

My notes to myself during the first day of the game:

• Benzia prime minister resolves the first crisis by convincing the break away tribe to remain with their country, averting civil war.
• Coleasa is focused on World domination, and continues to amass additional troops.  They joke that they will take over the world.
• I write objectives on the board in hopes of pulling attention to them, but it doesn't seem to affect anything.
• Ploop challenges Coleasa to become more peaceful, but with a threat of nuclear war (backed by arms dealers who "donated" armed nuclear weapons)
• Coleasa responds with potential acts of aggression, but prime minister backs down

• While the prime minister of Coleasa attempts to make peace treaties, the rest of his cabinet consults with me on how they can attempt a coup d'etat so that they can move forward with plans to arm the nuclear weapon and attack the small, defenseless country of Ploop.   Now,  I have the secret knowledge that tomorrow, the entire Coleasa cabinet plans to attempt a military coup.