Recent years have been marked by an increase in public awareness of teen violence. Many causes have been suggested. One theme that has been pointed out is the frequency with which violent teens appear to lack important social skills. Faced with emotional turmoil which they can not cope with, violence occurs. In addition to this, computer simulation games have been cited as contributing to the general atmosphere of violence children live in. Both of these factors may be part of the problem. Interestingly though, when combined – games and social skills – they provide a novel method for dealing with the problem. The following work is a description of a therapy group that is being run at a Mental Health Center in Indiana which uses games – specifically Matrix Games – to teach social skills. The research is still out on the effectiveness of this approach but it will come. OVERVIEW OF THE GROUP Each group meeting lasts for one hour. Group happens once a week, after school. A group consists of between 2 and 12 boys, ages 10 to 16 who are in counseling for emotional illness (Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Conduct Disorder, Attention Deficit, Depression, Anxiety or Adjustment Disorder.) Each group meeting follows the same format. 05 minutes Introductions/Administrative (New players learn the group rules) 05 minutes The therapist reads the social skill lesson to the players. 05 minutes The players set up the game and review the rules. 30 minutes The players play the game. The therapist acts as referee. 10 minutes The players fill out the feedback form and resolve who won. 05 minutes The players aid in putting the game up. The therapist read the lesson of the day to the players so that potential illiteracy will not limit any members chance of participating. The lesson sheet becomes the main tool that the referee then uses to run the game of the day. As the game is played, the therapist points out the social rules in action. Players who utilize the rules learned in the game are rewarded by having a much better chance of succeeding in their game moves. The therapist needs to be very up front with this point so that player will begin to see following the rules as the royal road to success. The players fill out feedback forms at the end of the session. This is part of the debriefing of the game. The players write down who they think won and who lost to practice observation skills. They then tell what they have written (or say it in the case of those who can not write) to practice saying what they believe to another person. Finally a dice rolling contest is done to see who wins. RESEARCH COMPONENT All the players in this group are given a standardized behavioral check list before coming to their first session. They are given a second check list once they are done to see what changes take place during their three months of therapy. THERAPIST AS REFEREE Often therapists view themselves as guides who lead their clients to insight. This is a more powerful role than is needed for this intervention. Instead the therapist listens to what the players say and rewards or punishes their moves by ruling their attempted actions as being more or less likely to happen on the roll of one six-sided die. Player action (and theoretically their thought) is thus molded by a rewards process. Rewards are intermittent because even a strong chance of happening can and will fail on a bad die roll. The therapist intrudes on the players process by pointing out social rules in action and that following them leads to success. This alone would be too rigid to teach much. The therapist can model flexibility by rewarding novel, innovative thought with strong chances of success. In this way, imagination and creativity are rewarded rather than stifled. If there is one fact about social process, it is that it doesn't operate by strict rigid rules. Variation and diversity are the facts of life. REFEREE DECISIONS The therapist guides the players though the game by presenting them with a game scenario and then asking them what they want to do. Anything they say is an acceptable action! The referee then decides how likely it is to happen. The referee decides the actions strength based on how well in enacts the social rules taught that day. Reward those that use the rule appropriately by giving them better "chance to happen" rolls. The player then rolls to see if the action worked. When players little men begin to fight, both players say how they want the fight to come out. The referee can direct the players to the "cheat sheet" to give them help in deciding what to do. The referee decides how strong each description is. The players roll to see which one happens. They do this by rolling for their own argument. They keep rolling as long as they hit one of their target numbers. If they fail a roll then the remaining player wins. If more than two players are in the conflict then the remaining players keep rolling till only one remains. If all the players roll "out" then the fight is ruled "inconclusive." [NOTE: The rules do not refer to killing or wounding people. This is intentional. Such language when used, rewards using it in other settings. Which can get children in trouble in those settings.] Players are allowed to interrupt action in this game once a turn. These "unexpected" events may logically conflict with actions players have already started. For instance one player says his opponent runs away. That player says he doesn't. They can not both logically happen. The players do a dice rolling contest as described above except that if all the players roll "out" then a new contest starts with all the players back in play. Roll keeps up till there is only one player left. That player's action is the one that happens. At the end of the session the players fill in a feedback form. Each line of this form is a game action (ie something they get to roll a die on to see if they win). The referee uses it to reward good sports, and perceptive observers. The referee decides how strong each action is and the players settle who wins be a big dice rolling contest as described above. MINIATURES GAMES AND ROLE PLAY GAMES About half of the games involve historical and science fiction toy soldier battles. The player conduct these games by fighting a brief straight forward battle. The remaining games are role play games. These are not done using typical psychotherapy technique. Instead they use the methods employed by fantasy role play games. In these games the referee presents situations to the players, who run a heroic "character". The players play act the situation and resolve any fights using the same methods used in the miniatures games. Mainly though, role play sessions rely on play acting. Since actually making eye contact is a better way to practice a skill than just talking about making eye contact. TOYS AND PROPS The games used in this group use toy soldiers. I recommend using plastic toys glued onto three inch square bases. They are cheap – available in many hobby stores and make a game visually appealing. In addition, players will need one six-sided die apiece and a twelve inch ruler. Therapists can play the games on the floor or on a large table. No other props are needed but toy trees and houses add to the effect as does painting the miniatures. SETTING UP SCENARIOS Each lesson plan ends with a suggested game. Miniature games tell a set of opponents and give brief descriptions of who the sides are. The therapist has the freedom to make up exactly what is going on. In this way the therapist need not become bored playing the same game over and over again as the group is repeated. Role play game pose more challenge to the therapist. In these games, the therapist must play act all the people that the player's characters meet on their journey. The referee still gets to decide what the game is about (to avoid boredom) but I urge keeping the story very simple so that it can be run in thirty minutes. GROUP RULES Presented at the start of the group to new players. The don'ts Don't run Don't push Don't hit Don't name call Don't tease Don't grab Don't break things The do's Do talk to one another Do play the game Do have fun Do watch one another and learn Do do what works for someone else Do fill out the feedback form at the end of group If a player breaks the rules the therapist may have him lose a turn, be removed from the game but get to stay in the room or have him leave the group. A player can not be allowed to come to the next group meeting or be completely removed from group for repeated misbehavior. GAME RULES Told to the players by the referee as the game is being played. Each player gets a turn to move. Stands of toy soldiers my move up to 12 inches. After the move, the other players say how they respond to the move. The therapist tells them what they need to roll for it to happen. Moving stands may fight. The attacker and defender say how they think the fight unfolds. The therapist tells them what they need to roll. To find out who wins. Once a turn, each player may interrupt the game to try to make something unexpected happen. The therapist tells what needs to be rolled for the action to happen. The therapist decides how likely the player's actions are to happen. This sets what the player must roll on a six sided die for the action to happen. Great! 2,3,4,5,6 Good 3,4,5,6 Okay 4,5,6 Alright 5,6 Bad 6 vStupid 7 Movement = 12 inches Ranges Sword and Pike 1" Spear 3" Bow 6" Musket 12" Rifle 18" Cannon 24" Rocket/Missile 24" Laser infinity 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