Meet inside The Shops at Waterloo Town Square - we will congregate in the seating area next to the Valu-Mart with the trees sticking out in the middle of the benches at 7pm for 15 minutes, and then head over to my nearby apartment's amenity room. If you've been around a few times, feel free to meet up at my apartment front door for 7:30 instead. (There is free city parking at Bridgeport and Regina, 22 Bridgeport Rd E.)
Activity
This week we'll be trying out Conflict Improv. This is a is a social event where people can play out mock conflicts with given strategies, and then analyze which strategies are ideal in which situations.
Before the game begins, we'll briefly cover improv fundamentals and engage in a few warm-up exercises. No prior improv experience is required to participate.
In this game, you have two types of cards: blue and red. Blue cards list ways to handle conflict, like 'be firm but friendly' or 'act weird to throw the other person off.' Red cards describe a situation where conflict might happen, like arguing over a parking spot.
Here's how it works:
Two players are chosen.
Each player picks a blue card for their conflict-handling strategy.
Together, they pick a red card for the scenario they'll act out.
They agree on who takes which side in the conflict and clarify details if needed.
The scene plays out for up to 5 minutes or until someone taps out.
Players can switch strategies by saying 'new strategy' and picking a new blue card.
After each scene, there will be a discussion for up to 5 minutes on: Who won, A or B? What did they win? At what cost? Fixing B’s strategy, what would A’s ideal strategy have been? And vice versa?
Safety
Every effort will be made to accommodate everyone's boundaries and triggers during the game. Each round is opt-in, you'll be allowed to discard any conflict card with no questions asked, and there will be a space set aside for viewers who want a break, or to not witness scenes about certain topics.
Discussion
I don't expect Conflict Improv to take the entire 3 hours, so after we get bored we'll transition to some freeform discussion. Some questions I'm interested in:
Efficacy of Strategies: Which conflict resolution strategies seemed most effective?
Unintended Consequences: Were there strategies that had unforeseen negative or positive outcomes?
Influence of Personalities, Emotions, Gender Identity, etc: How did individual dispositions affect the outcome of each strategy?
Real-world Applicability: Which strategies and insights from this game do you find most translatable to real-world conflicts?
Goodharting: Can a strategy be considered 'optimal' if it wins the game but leads to unhappiness or decreased social cohesion?
Meta-Analysis: Was the game itself a good way to explore these concepts? What would make it better or worse as an epistemic environment?
If we have time after that, if people are interested I'm down for a few more rounds of Snake Oil.
Meet inside The Shops at Waterloo Town Square - we will congregate in the seating area next to the Valu-Mart with the trees sticking out in the middle of the benches at 7pm for 15 minutes, and then head over to my nearby apartment's amenity room. If you've been around a few times, feel free to meet up at my apartment front door for 7:30 instead. (There is free city parking at Bridgeport and Regina, 22 Bridgeport Rd E.)
Activity
This week we'll be trying out Conflict Improv. This is a is a social event where people can play out mock conflicts with given strategies, and then analyze which strategies are ideal in which situations.
Before the game begins, we'll briefly cover improv fundamentals and engage in a few warm-up exercises. No prior improv experience is required to participate.
In this game, you have two types of cards: blue and red. Blue cards list ways to handle conflict, like 'be firm but friendly' or 'act weird to throw the other person off.' Red cards describe a situation where conflict might happen, like arguing over a parking spot.
Here's how it works:
After each scene, there will be a discussion for up to 5 minutes on: Who won, A or B? What did they win? At what cost? Fixing B’s strategy, what would A’s ideal strategy have been? And vice versa?
Safety
Every effort will be made to accommodate everyone's boundaries and triggers during the game. Each round is opt-in, you'll be allowed to discard any conflict card with no questions asked, and there will be a space set aside for viewers who want a break, or to not witness scenes about certain topics.
Discussion
I don't expect Conflict Improv to take the entire 3 hours, so after we get bored we'll transition to some freeform discussion. Some questions I'm interested in:
If we have time after that, if people are interested I'm down for a few more rounds of Snake Oil.
Ok, see ya'll there!
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