Lesson Ten Dealing With Authority Figures Parents, police, teachers, probation officers, case workers and judges are all doing a job. They enforce rules. If we violate the rules, they may have to punish us. Usually there is nothing personal about this. They are just trying to maintain order. You can get into more trouble if you like - just start arguing. If you don't want more punishment then try using self control. When they ask you to stop, do so immediately. Stay calm and relax. This puts them at ease. Answer their questions honestly - not defensively. Remain calm and relaxed. They expect you to get defensive. Staying calm may get you off. Accept what they say without argument. Don't run or fight. Hey you! Who? Me? Good, he's stopped. Relax Did you... Yes sir. Hum...He's calm - an easy one. Relax! I'm letting you off with a warning. Yes sir. Thank you sir. When we tense up, they tense up. When we fight, they fight. Do we want to fight when we can't win? THE GAME: ROLE PLAY The players are space tourists who have just walked into a forbidden religious building on a distant alien world. They are immediately surrounded by very angry natives who call in the law enforcement officials and a local religious leader. The players must cope with the confrontation. Lesson Eleven Making Friends and Building Trust To make friends we have to talk to people. There are times to do this (on the play ground, at lunch, in the hall, before and after school) and times to not do this (during class, during church, in court). Who to approach? How people stand tells whither they are open to talking. Face to face - They are talking and don't want to be interrupted. Sideways - These two are open for a third to join them. An individual may be open. Is the person smiling and relaxed? Go up and say hello. What to talk about? The first skill of talking is listening. Listen to what they say and add something to that. Should I tell my story? Tell the person a little about yourself to test the waters. Telling everything is too much. They need to see you are not going to ask too much from them. Give and take - Trust builds when you are able to talk, share, not be overwhelmed or sucked dry. Friendship is limited. Don't ask your friends to get into trouble for you and don't get into trouble for them! THE GAME: ROBOTS ROBOTS Giant robots fight using rocket, lasers and physically tearing one another apart with claws. But they are machines so when they are torn up they can be repaired by service men on the ground. Robot armies grow their numbers by repairing their opponent's robots and re-programming them to charge sides! So you may need to work together to protect your machines. Back to Table of Contents -- Matrix Gamer #26 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