This week's class brought me back to some of my favorite childhood memories. With my dad being a Political Science professor, he thought it was essential for my sisters and I to learn how to play Risk at an early age to teach us about compromise and how to communicate better with each other within the simulation of a world domination board game. Playing Diplomatic Risk in the class had me flashing back to stealing Kamchatka and Yakutsk from my sisters just simply because I liked how they sounded, not because of territorial resources or positions. Returning to one of my favorites board games reminded me of why I was taught to play it at all when I was young.
Risk, in general, teaches people of all ages how to think strategically and learn to communicate within the boundaries of the game. Now in the case of Diplomatic Risk, that communication becomes even more essential with the changing team dynamics from a single member state to that of Heads of State, Diplomat, Secretary of the Treasury, and the public. Especially in our case of being the hegemon of the board, our team had to make sure we were all on the same page with the distribution of money to ensure our state remained in line with its stated democratic values. Our unique position gave us a distinct advantage in the number of troops we were allocated but automatically put a target on our backs (*cough cough* the Diplomatic board voting to take us down first before focusing on each other). These issues, aside I am very excited to spend the next two classes working on maintaining our domination of the board and hopefully maintaining my calm throughout the remainder of the game. Even when I played with my sisters when I was 8-9ish I was extremely competitive despite not understanding the most basic attack strategies, so hopefully this upcoming week, I won't revert to my childish tendencies.
PS: Brown team on Board B, IT IS ON!!!! THERE WILL BE NO MERCY!!
No comments:
Post a Comment