Game Scenarios
John is assigned to Southeast Asia.
He and his 3 teammates split up responsibilities, and John chooses to be a trade specialist. He quickly sees that Southeast Asia faces many problems in healthcare, education, and the environment. John goes to companies and organizations in the game and tries to persuade them to sell technology and solution strategies in exchange for Southeast Asia’s resources. Some teams take more persuasion than others, especially those who see no reason to invest in poor regions like John’s. Through good salesmanship, strategic planning, and sheer persistence, John advances his team’s infrastructure from moderate to high, gaining 32 wealth points in the process for Southeast Asia.
Jamila is assigned to the Health Team.
At first her team is unsure about what goals the Health Team should pursue. After some deliberation, Jamila and her teammates decide that they would like to make as much money as possible. Since every region team needs healthcare solutions, Jamila sells the health resources for five times their value and accumulates a 700% profit by the end of the game. Many teams could not afford healthcare, and players complain through the media and cultural channels about the exploitations of the Health team. During the debriefing, there is a heated discussion about the effects of one team making a profit at the expense of the rest of the world.
Hiroko is assigned to Eurotek.
Eurotek is one of the 4 corporations in the game. As a Cultural Specialist, Hiroko spends much of her time in the game creating artwork that expresses the goals and strategies of her team. In Round 2, she writes a funny skit about Eurotek's desire to trade with less developed regions. The WSN reporter agrees to showcase the skit during his news report. Hiroko and her teammates' performance earns a lot of positive feedback from other teams and 2 “culture power” chips from the Culture Minister at the Global Foundation. Other teams begin to follow suit in creating more interesting cultural expressions, and showcasing them during the News to advertise their successes and needs. In the debriefing, there is a brief discussion on how the media and culture in the game shape the players’ perception of each team.
Maya is assigned to the China team.
Maya’s team is rich in resources, especially in labor force, but relatively poor in cash. As a Trade Specialist, Maya quickly finds that corporations and organizations in the game are often only interested in cash chips but not regional resources. To purchase solutions to their problems, Maya and her teammates are sometimes forced to trade their resources at much below their value. Maya asks the team’s Cultural Specialist to create artwork that emphasizes the value of China’s resources, but the effect seems minimal, and good deals are hard to come by. The problem is compounded by the lack of communication between Maya and her teammates, who sometimes make deals that contradict each other, wasting valuable trading time. At the end of the game, China does not reach Maya’s goal of advancing its infrastructure, and actually loses 5 wealth points. In the debriefing session, Maya and her teammates share with other players the problems and challenges they faced in the game.
Samir is assigned to the Miyazaki team.
Miyazaki is one of the corporate teams in the game. As a Trade Specialist, Samir makes several good deals by giving poorer regions the technology they need in exchange for their resources. When these regions advance in infrastructure level, their resources increase in value and add significantly to the total wealth of Samir’s team. Miyazaki maintains such good relationship with its clients that an Middle East Cultural Specialist writes a song and performs it during the World Span News Report to thank Miyazaki. Miyazaki’s popularity spurs some envy from the other corporate teams, who in Round 3 merge together to form Omnicorp to compete against Miyazaki. In the end, however, Samir’s team still comes out 12 wealth points ahead of the other corporate teams.
Jose is assigned to the Environment team.
Conscious of the importance of environmental health to every region in the world, Jose and his teammates vow to forgo profits and instead try to help the world. Jose sells the environmental solutions at a very low price, sometimes below cost, to any region who asks for them. They quickly run out of solutions, but also found themselves out of cash, which they need to purchase new environmental solutions. As the Environment team declares bankruptcy, the world’s progress halts since no region can develop its infrastructure without environmental solutions. The situation nearly reaches a crisis point until Japan, Southeast Asia, and a corporate team pool together enough cash to bail out the Environment team. Jose and his teammates manage their wealth carefully for the rest of the game, and the Environment team finishes the game as the only organization that is a true non-profit.
Katrina is assigned to the Global Foundation.
Membership in the Global Foundation comes with a host of power and responsibilities, from dispensing financial aid to selling solution strategies to companies and NGOs. Katrina and her two teammates are immediately besieged by demands from all sides, especially from poor regions pleading for aid, and Cultural Specialists eager to show their artwork to win cultural power chips. After Round 2, the facilitator makes a surprise announcement that a disaster will happen in a few years unless the world raises a certain amount of wealth in the next 5 minutes. Katrina volunteers to be in charge of mobilizing the world’s fundraising effort. She persuades North America and several corporations to match other team’s donations 2-to-1. At the end of the game, the facilitator announces that the world raised 204 points, 4 points more than needed to avoid the disaster.
