I wanted to test out the idea that with minor variation the Battle Matrix Game could work to simulate social situations. I renamed the flow of play to... MOVE RESPONSE ENGAGEMENT RESPONSE UNEXPECTED EVENT I have a fellow come to see me for anger management training. I've used MGs as a training simulation for anger for many years. In the past though the game moved from stage to stage (like is begin discussed now of the list). Now I could try out an actual event. I set out three figures on a small table. We had a ruler and two dice (one a piece). I set up the situation. Then my player moved first. 1. The client ran the angry person. I ran two other characters. I told him he was angry and had just entered the room. My two characters had different motivations. One was completely avoidant, the other would avoid normally but was not opposed to intervening. The client did not move towards the others. The avoidant character moved away the other stood his ground. As the angry character stayed away from the others the client made arguments to calm him down. Each turn they got a little stronger. Eventually I had the non-avoidant approach him. The exchange did not work and the angry one retreated and luckily got control right then. I commended his use of physical space and time to gain control. We noted how risky approaching an angry person can be. 2. This time the angry person was told that he wanted to hit someone. The avoidant guy was still avoidant. The other guy was not avoidant. He wanted to defend. The client again moved his angry guy away. I had the defender move up to him. The two did not succeed in connecting. The angry character took the risk of turning his back on the defender (a gamble to test if he was dangerous). Since the angry guy did not attack the defender did not need to defend. Again success. I commended his risk taking and spotting how the defender was not a threat unless he made him one. 3. This time we had the angry guy face two co-worker who were making fun of him. The client had the angry person move up to them and say hello. This quitted the jerks down. An uncomfortable silence. He then tried to drink coffee with them. The jerks opted to leave. I pointed out how his assertiveness ended the situation despite how uncomfortable it would have been. All the games showed that if the angry person engaged his emotion and the situation (by consciously calming himself, not attacking and saying hello) that the situation resolved better. The client said it made him think. It was not "fun" per say but that is okay in a therapy game. We were able to run through three pertinent scenarios in half and hour (plus debriefing and discussion). I know this has little to do with the lists primary hobby aims but I thought you would be interesting in hearing about my little experiment. Sincerely Chris Engle ACSW LCSW (my social worker alphabet soup) Back to Table of Contents -- Matrix Gamer #25 To Matrix Gamer List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2001 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