CBI Practitioners and Boston Area Colleagues Reflect on the Merits of Role-Play Simulations

In December, a small group from CBI, MIT, Boston University, and other organizations gathered at MIT to take stock of what we have learned about the use of role-play simulations as teaching, research, and public education tools. The group explored the efficacy of using different types of games in various teaching and learning situations. Participants strategized ways to organize additional empirical research that would clarify which kinds of games work in various situations. Janot Mendler de Suarez of the Boston University Pardee Center ran a game designed to help citizens in developing countries understand the value of scientific information as a tool for minimizing disaster risks.

Critics challenge the efficacy of games in teaching because they are necessarily simplified representations of reality, but our (admittedly anecdotal) experiences using them extensively for over 25 years through the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law suggest that they can be very powerful. A great deal more work needs to be done to evaluate the use of games, and improvement is surely possible.

A shift seems to be taking place from reliance on general-purpose negotiation instruction games to more carefully tailored games, especially for groups wrestling with particular challenges like climate change. An outstanding question is whether or not more involved games tailored to particular projects are worth the substantial resources required to create them.

Participants also discussed how accurate games should be. How do we find the right balance between reflecting the complexity present in a particular situation versus simplifying and abstracting it? Simplifying the situation is not only necessary for ease-of-use, but abstraction also grants distance from reality which give participants freedom to experiment.

In addition, the group covered the different uses of games, and how this might influence their preparation and the ways in which they are facilitated. Games may be used as pedagogical tools for individuals learning skills; as research tools for facilitators to observe how they proceed and draw insights; or, as vehicles for modeling and initiating real change in how organizations make decisions. Each of these uses may require different types of games.

The workshop concluded with participants committed to continuing and extending the discussion. Watch for more information on this website as the work continues.