Ashley ML Guajardo

Over this summer I was tasked with running a workshop about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Like most people assigned this task, I wanted to run something fun, engaging, meaningful and most importantly- not boring!

Of course the best thing to do in this situation is to hire a professional to run the workshop. Budget not allowing, I spent a good chunk of time looking through books, watching talks, and skimming through premium/paid workshop content for anything which would fit my needs. Specifically, I needed an activity which could be played by a large group (24 people), was at least somewhat ludic, and could teach empathy to academics.

I’m not trying to be funny or coy or sassy with that last sentence- I’m being genuine.

When was the last time you, dear reader, had a lesson on empathy? For me it was likely in the second grade. Of course I read empathy-building books and seek out narratives and perspectives different from my own, but the last time someone actually sat me down and discussed empathy for others? Not for a long while.

So I made my own empathy building game and I am sharing it with you so that if you ever find yourself tasked with running a DEI workshop for games academics you have a launch pad to get you started.

Let me tell you a little bit about the game and you can decide if you would like to download it and use it in your own workshops, retreats, or classes. I have provided it here free to use with the following license:

Dragonworld Cup by Ashley Guajardo is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Elevator pitch: We’re better together. Even if we are dragons. 

In this short, tabletop, empathy game, players assume the role of dragons trying to navigate a fantasy maze in teams with the ultimate goal of reaching the golden football at its center. Each dragon team has unique, but complimentary, strengths and weaknesses to help them defeat the maze’s puzzles. Teams may only be successful in reaching the goal if they work together, but they may not do that…

Summary:

This game delivers an interactive and educational experience which can be used as a compliment to traditional Diversity, Equity and Inclusion training. The foundation of this game rests on pro-social pedagogical techniques for teambuilding and ice-breaking which makes it an excellent addition to annual workshops or retreats. Narratively, the game’s setting and playable characters are metaphors for journeys into higher education and the challenges many of us faculty, staff, and students face.

A note on representation: Rather than represent people, the dragon playable characters each have a set of abilities which may or may not be rewarded in academia. This design is intended to place emphasis on situations which are challenging as opposed to directly representing any particular group of people or ability.

Audience:

This game is intended to be played by adults of all ages, but particularly by those who work in higher education. This game is accessible to a variety of experiences and skill level and requires no past gaming knowledge to be successful.

Players:

The game was designed for 24 players, however, any composition of 6 players works well as there are 6 dragon types. For example, a group of 18 people can play with 6 groups of 3 people of each type. Groups of multiples of 5 can remove the Stone Dragon type from play. Groups of multiples of 4 can remove the Stone Dragon and Cloud Dragon types from play.

Space: As this game is intended to be played by large groups of people, a large room with cabaret seating for 24 plus a large central table is needed.

Length of play: 2 hours- 1 hour for gameplay and 1 hour for debrief.

Materials: This game requires printing a series of documents as well as purchasing certain materials. A full list of necessary resources (in addition to this printable document) is available on page 9.

Early Feedback: Jordan Lynn, Sean Wanderer, Erika Wood, Aqeel Tapia

Beta Testers: Dana Ware, Elizabeth Zelle, Michael Caldwell, Patrick Smith

A note on playtesting/ status of the game: This game was intended to be run as a one-off with no re-playability by a team of one. This was factored into its production. To keep the game in-scope, I decided to invest more time into ensuring the game adequately taught empathy for others in academia and didn’t accidentally inaccurately represent certain groups.

Is the game perfect? Absolutely not.

Is this a game I would pitch to a publisher in its current state? No.

Is this a game I think is in good enough shape to release into the world as a fun add-on to DEI workshops? Sure. 🙂

References:

Henderson, D. 2021. ‘Deep Representation in Tell Me Why’. GRUX Online.

Hill Collins, P., and Bilge, S. 2016. Intersectionality. 1st ed. Key Concepts.

Linker, M. 2014. Intellectual Empathy: Critical Thinking for Social Justice. University of Michigan Press.