Single-Player Mode in the Classroom

Overview

The Hurricane Landfall game is designed with the assumption that it will be played in groups of four, with each player at a different computer. However, if that's an impractical approach for your classroom (if there aren't enough computers to go around, or reliable network connections aren't available, or you can't install java, for example), you can still use the game.

In this approach, you run the game in single-player mode and project it for the entire class to see. Instead of using the computer to mediate interaction, debate, negotiation, and voting happen offline, and the game is used only to track the choices made by the players and evaluate the consequences of their decisions.

To use the game in this way, you will need:

Preparation

Do the following tasks before running the exercise.

  • Test the equipment. Download the game and run it in single-player mode on the computer you will be using for the exercise. See the "startup" section for an instructions on how to run the game. Make sure to test the projector you'll be using as well.
  • Print out the handouts. Along with the introductory materials, you will need to hand out copies of the detailed proposal information from the help files during game play. Note that in later rounds, the handouts will contain information on proposals that aren't currently available. It is best if you can provide one handout for each player.
  • Give students the introductory materials. It will streamline the exercise if students have an opportunity to read the introductory materials at their own pace beforehand. This makes a good preparatory homework assignment. Hand out the briefing and the proposals for round 1. (The other two handouts will be used later.)

Startup

The game starts with a briefing that explains what's going on in the game. A copy of the briefing for the first round is included in the handouts, but explaining it will help ground the players in the experience and get them in the right mindset.

  • Set the game up. You will use the game in single-player mode for this exercise. Double-click the game to run it, select "solo game", and choose "single-player mode". Check the startup and troubleshooting pages if you have any problems.
  • Introduce the game. Ideally, the players will have already read the introductory materials, but it's best not to count on it. Explain to the players:
    • they will make decisions about a fictional small gulf coast town
    • there are three rounds
    • each player will have a role
    • the goal is to make the town a place they'd want to live.
  • Summarize the first page of the briefing. We'll use the briefing as part of the game introduction. The first page is the overall situation, explaining about the town. Summarize the description of the town for the players, being sure to point out on the map:
    • the ferry and highway used to leave the island and go to the big city a little ways inland
    • the industrial park where many locals work
    • the bird sanctuary, which draws many tourists to the town
    • the beach, which also draws many tourists
  • Show the map layers. Flash the 'transit' and 'labels' toggles (click them on and off a couple times) and explain that you'll change the view if the students request it. Turn on the hazard toggle and explain that it represents the danger of flooding. Red is high hazard, orange is medium hazard, and yellow is (relatively) low. In a hurricane, there would also be wind hazard, but it's the same everywhere on the map.
  • Switch to page 2 of the briefing and assign roles. Explain that each player will have a role in the town and divide the players up into four roughly equal groups, assigning one of the roles to each group. Note that the roles do not need to be formed into teams of any kind; it will work fine to just number players off 1-2-3-4 and assign roles that way.
  • Describe the roles and landuses. Summarize each of the roles and flash the corresponding landuse toggle to highlight where the associated buildings are. Be sure to note that the icons don't represent individual buildings, but areas where that's the predominant type of landuse. After you've covered all the roles, point out the two other significant landuses: factories and open space. Expain that open space can't be built on, while empty space is just undeveloped land.
  • Switch to page 3 of the briefing and summarize the scenario.
  • Switch to page 4 and explain the budget. Explain that the players have a two-part budget. Each round they'll get a certain amount of money and a certain amount of work or political capitol (symbolized with a little anvil) to spend. Each proposal has a cost in both money and work. Some things cost a lot of money, but not much work, and vice-versa. They have to be able to afford both parts of the cost to be able to pass a proposal. The round ends when there's nothing affordable left.
  • Make sure players have their handouts and summarize the proposals. Each player should have a printout of the information in the Help, which contains a full description of the proposals available in round 1. You can read off the list of proposals, but avoid going into details to save time.
  • Pause to answer any questions before beginning the game. When everyone's ready, click the "Done" button to move into the main interface of the game.

How To Play

Now you will explain how to play. NOTE: the Vote and Chat tabs are not used in single-player mode, and all the information in the Help tab is included in the player handouts.

  • Explain the Info tab and the metrics. Start by switching to the Info tab and explaining that the colored bars represent the state of the town: growth rates for each of the four landuse types, a measure of the health of the local ecology, and a hazard rating that indicates how much danger the town is exposed to. Right now, the ecology is doing pretty well, and the hazard level is fairly low. NOTE: It's important to avoid saying or even implying that these are scores for the different roles. In fact, you probably want to avoid even saying the word "score". It's likely that many players will make the assumption that a bigger bar is better, and that's fine, but you don't want them to feel like they were cheated because you led them to think that and it turned out to have negative consequences.
  • Explain making proposals. Switch back to the proposals tab. Explain to the players that they should begin by discussing with one another what they think the best options are. (This will work best in an environment where the players can move around to discuss things in small groups.) Once they have found a group that agrees, they can call for a vote, but they should try and develop some broader support, first.
  • Summarize voting and proposal resoultion. A call for vote will be followed by voting and debate, which you'll explain in just a moment. If the vote passes, the proposal will immediately take effect and the resources (money and work) it requires subtracted from the budget. After passing a proposal, the Info tab will show the changes that result, which may include other proposals being eliminated because they are no longer affordable. When there's nothing left that's affordable (or if the "End Turn Now" proposal gets passed), the round will end.

Voting

If you want a want to demonstrate the voting procedure rather than just describing it, you can walk the players through passing the "Tree Trimming Program" proposal. It is designed to be an obvious first step, because it is inexpensive and relates directly to the first scenario.

  • Calling for a vote. If a coalition of players has agreed on a proposal -- including all the proposal options -- they can call for a vote. A coalition must consist of a minimum number of players; 3 or 4 is usually a good number. (As a guideline, the minimum coalition size should be at least 1/8 the total number of players, which is equal to a majority of the players in one role. A coalition calls for a vote by all raising their hands together. Calling for a vote is "first-come first-served", so the instructor may have to break ties when two groups raise their hands at the same time.
  • Making the proposal. The instructor then calls on one of the coalition members to explain the proposal and configure it. Click on the name of the proposal to select it, and then click the "Propose" button. Have one of the coalition members explain the options they have chosen for the proposal. Sometimes they won't agree on the details. If they can come to agreement immediately, let them continue; otherwise, instruct them to figure it out and go back to normal discussion in the meantime.
  • Brief discussion. Have one of the proposers say a few words about why they want to pass this proposal. Ask if anyone else would like to speak in favor of the proposal. Then ask if anyone would like to speak against it. Try to keep discussion focused. You don't want long debates, but you do want all the relevant opinions aired. Once there's nothing new coming up, start the voting.
  • First round: regular voting. Once the proposal has been configured, call for a vote. Everyone gets to participate in the first round of voting. Players can vote for the proposal, vote against it, or abstain from voting altogether. Voting is done by a simple show of hands; the instructor just says "all in favor, raise your hand" and counts the number of hands, then does the same for those against. Be sure to announce the number of votes for and against and to write it down.
  • Further discussion of the proposal. After the first round of voting, allow the players a minute or two to discuss the vote. Let them make (brief!) arguments for or against the proposal.
  • Second round: favor voting. Each player gets 2 favors per game round. Favors are used for extra votes. They can use them all on one vote, or on different votes, or not use them at all. You could pass out tokens to keep track of favors, but it's easier just to ask the players not to cheat and to keep an eye on one another. In the second round of voting, players must spend favors to vote. Voting is again by show of hands; tell players that they should raise both hands if they want to use both their favors. Once they use the favors, they're gone. If they don't want to use their favors, they can't vote in the second round. Order is important in favor voting; call for favor votes for whichever side is currently behind first. If "against" is losing the vote, ask whether anyone wants to spend favors for extra votes against, then do the same for "in favor", and vice-versa. Note that if it's mathematically impossible for the losing side to swing the vote back in the other direction, you should probably just skip this step entirely to keep things moving.
  • Resolve the vote. When the voting is finished, tally the votes for and against from both rounds. If there are more votes in favor than against, the proposal passes; otherwise it fails. If the proposal fails, click the "cancel" button and let the players go back to discussing what they want to do. If the proposal passes, click the "OK" button. The proposal will be put into effect and the game will switch to the Info tab to display the results. Give everyone a moment to look at the effects of the proposal (changed metrics, things added to the map, proposals no longer affordable), then switch back to the Proposals tab and continue with discussion and coalition-building.

Ending One Round And Starting The Next

  • End the round. Eventually, the players will either run out of budget or will decide that they want to keep some of their budget for the future and will pass the "End Turn Now" proposal. If time is running short, you could announce a time limit and end the round after it expires.
  • Read the briefing. When the round ends, the game will present a briefing for the next round. The first page is a summary of what the players did in the round. Read the summary to the players and, if desired, discuss what happened and why. Then continue with the briefing. Read each page of the briefing aloud. If they need to refer back to something during the next round, the briefing is included in the files on the help tab.
  • Pass out handouts. Each briefing ends with a summary of the proposals available this round. Pass the appropriate handout to the players, which will contain detailed information about all of the proposals. In rounds 2 and 3, it is likely that there will be more proposals in the handout than are available for passage, because the problems the players encounter (which the proposals are meant to address) are dependent on their decisions in earlier rounds. Read the list of available proposals to the players to help them know where to focus their attention.
  • Start the next round. Once most of the players have had a chance to absorb the proposal descriptions and are ready to start discussing the proposals with one another, end the briefing and begin the next round.

Ending The Game

  • Read the final debriefing. After the third round, the game will generate a final briefing that describes the outcome of the last round and gives an overview of the town's ending situation. Read these summaries to the players. After the "credits" page, the briefing continues with the contents of earlier briefings, allowing you to review the town's evolution during your discussion.
  • Lead a discussion When you get to the end of the game summary, ask the questions: "Are you happy with your town? Is it a place where you want to live? How does it compare to what you wanted and expected at the beginning?" This leads off the discussion of what happened and how the players feel about it. You can lead this discussion to cover any of the teaching points you feel are important.

    We could write a whole book on how to lead the final debriefing, but the short version is just to relate the game events to the teaching points you want to cover, and let the players talk about their experience of the game and how it relates to these issues. Ask the players what they learned.