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Political simulation game

In the political simulation game, the participants are first divided into teams, which represent a group affected by the content of the game. Based on a description of a situation not too far in the future (a scenario), the players choose their strategies and try to influence the game in their favor in successive turns. An important learning effect is how strongly and in what often surprising ways the results of one's own actions depend on the decisions of the other players.
Members of the Z-T-G research team have developed the so-called mammoth game, which involves simulating conflicts surrounding the introduction of a scientific and technological innovation. We called it the Mammoth Game because 1) the first such game actually involved the release of mammoths brought to life by means of the latest genetic engineering and 2) the innovations highlighted in the game always have far-reaching social, cultural, economic and/or ecological consequences for certain players.
Members of the Z-T-G have used this method particularly in teaching (e.g. VU Futurology). Results are reported here:

  • Dayé, Christian, Roman Lukas Prunč, and Martin Hofmann-Wellenhof. 2023. „The Mammoth Prophecies: A Role-Playing Game on Controversies around a Socio-Technical Innovation and Its Effects on Students’ Capacities to Think about the Future“. European Journal of Futures Research 11(1):7. doi: 10.1186/s40309-023-00219-9.