"Solidarity" is a game I am running to demonstrate the basics of Matrix Games. For that reason, the write ups of each turn will tell what every argument that comes in says. This is only an interesting way to present a turn, IF you are Interested in HOW a turn was resolved. If, on the other hand, you just want to play the game, then a different format might work better. For instance ... Say there are 60 Players in the game. This means 120 arguments a turn. There is no way a referee is going to have enough time to type out all this stuff (and maintain a sane life). Even if he did, most of the players would skip this section and go straight to the results section. All that work is for nought. A more creative way to organize the presentation of a game like "Solidarity" might be to use a more role play style. For example, most of what one hears about world events comes from news reports (TV, Radio, Newspapers, and Magazines). So to put the players into the mind set of real people the turn might Present the results as though they were news stories. Obviously not all* results are as important as others, so they may be reported in a reduced manner. Also some arguments that did not go through might be reported as rumors, or as articles talking about possibilities for the future. If the players in the game were playing specific factions within countries, they would have access to different kinds of news. Imagine what kind of news a Nationalist leader in Uzbekistan might have access to. It probably is not going to be as complete as he would like. This Is true of a US player as well. Take for example the story about the recent Moslem coup attempt in Trinadad. The US news media reports that, Abu Bakr, a Moslem leader, seized the parliament building. Hummm, sounds like those sneaky Moslems are at it again. Well, maybe. What they did not say is that Bakr is a Black Moslem.(95% of the Moslems on the island are of Indian origin, not African and that most of Trinadad's Moslems consider him a dangerous fanatic, wanting nothing to do with him. The papers also neglected to tell us that this guy has been around for years protesting on a very uncomfortable subject. He claims that the Trinadad government is financed by cocaine smugglers. He goes on to say that the smugglers are using the Island as a staging ground for there operations,(and here's the embarrassing part) that the CIA is helping them. Sound crazy? Maybe not, if you consider the CIA supported Noriega et al. The only reason I know about the to doings of Abu Bakr is that a graduate student friend of mine spent a year living In Trinadad doing a study on Kali worship amoungst the Hindu population there. So maybe this idea of limiting the reports given to the players is "realistic." If "Solidarity" were more of a Cold War game the the limited reporting rule could create the tension needed to run a strategic level spy game. Arguments could set up spy rings, while other counter espionage arguments might compromise such rings and open them up to subversion or destruction. All food for thought. Back to Experimental Games Group # 8 Table of Contents Back to Experimental Games Group List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1990 by Chris Engle This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com