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Simulation Games
Contents
Preamble
The
simulation game is a versatile tool in group work, because it can be used
in a variety of situations to accomplish a number of goals in relation
to the content and the group.
In
simulations, participants are asked to place themselves in an imaginary
role and act out a problem, create solutions, or think about an event
from the point of view of the characters they are asked to represent.
The role play technique helps the participant to feel directly involved
in the issue being represented, rather than simply discussing it as something
removed. Thus, the simulation of actual or imaginary events creates a
sense of immediacy among the group members.
A
simulation is essentially an environment with a situation, roles and rules,
designed to open up issues, and generate outcomes from the participants
or players:
* It offers more scope than a simple role play or improvisation, because
of its combination of content with characterization and plot. In simulations,
participants generally play the role of someone else, but without engaging
in the processes of creative drama.
* Situations can be imaginary, where participants may be playing themselves
(especially useful for group dynamics), or they can be based in a streamlined,
possibly polarized version of reality (usually a crisis). The parameters
of simulations do not cover all the elements of reality, as these can
render it unmanageable in content and dynamics.
* Roles can be composites, or based on real personalities; complex simulations
require additional content to be provided (maps, documents, web pages)
and assignments to enable participants to integrate them in the game..
* The dynamics of a simulation game resemble a flow chart with multiple
entries and outcomes. It has to come from somewhere and it must be traveling
somewhere else, even if these will be multiple outcomes (different decisions).
Participants need to understand their roles and have an opportunity to
try them out before addressing the main issue of a game. In more complex
games, the momentum is sustained through different coalition-building
challenges, time and other pressures, addition of new situation data,
individual and group assignments.
Included here are five simulations, which may be used as activities with
your group. The subject matter includes a game relating to their perceptions
of the world, issues related to Israel, and moments in Jewish History.
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