黑料正能量

Researchers at 黑料正能量 have created an innovative way to practice working together and achieving a common goal. In聽, players learn how to build better movements through live action role play.听

罢丑别听Center for Transformational Play(opens in new window) (CTP) at 黑料正能量 created the game for聽, a Pittsburgh-based education network that offers free support and collaborative opportunities for educators across the region. The idea is to help people, such as community organizers and activists, find common ground, build strong local movements and successfully do their work.

鈥淭here are challenges that come up in group collaboration 鈥� think of a coworker who insists that things have to be perfect and are unwilling to accept a partial solution, even if it could help reach a better future,鈥� said聽, director of the CTP and an associate professor in the聽and the聽.听

鈥淭hat鈥檚 even more difficult when you're talking about people who come from different organizational contexts,鈥� said Hammer, who led the integration of research and design for the game. 鈥淲e identified several places where games could help bridge divides. One of the big ones was helping people reflect on ways that collaborations can go wrong and develop strategies to strengthen them before the problem comes up.鈥澛�

In the game, players take on the characters of Appalachian cryptids, mythical creatures like bigfoot or the Flatwoods Monster.听

A strong sense of place is central to its design, said , senior development specialist, who co-designed the game with the CTP鈥檚 lead game designer聽.

鈥淧ittsburgh has not just a strong local identity, but also a strong sense of mutual aid,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 think that that's part of why the game works. People connect with that type of local identity, local mutual aid, and it helps them collaborate.鈥�

The science of learning to work together

Monsters of Appalachia draws from role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons, where players guide their characters through a series of challenges. As a live-action game, players explore the physical space and act out the story; a game master (GM) facilitates and answers questions.听

鈥淭he GM鈥檚 job is to be something between a waiter and a stage manager,鈥� said聽Heller. 鈥淭hey're there to make sure that everybody has everything that they need to have a good time and to play the game. They also have to represent what in a computer game would be represented by a computer. You go to the GM and ask, 鈥榙id I succeed at this?鈥� And the GM says 鈥榶es, you succeeded. Here's your gold star.鈥欌��

Up to 25 players can participate. When each player receives their assigned cryptid persona, they鈥檙e also given a card with a list of their monster鈥檚 character traits and priorities. For example, Mothpeople are worried about light pollution and want to preserve dark skies. Bigfoots are concerned about construction in natural areas. While keeping these individual issues in mind, the different cryptids must also solve a larger quest the GM throws at the group.听聽聽

鈥淭he challenges are mostly about fixing things that humans have done to change the natural world. Like: Humans have gotten rid of all flowers, you need to find some pollinators,鈥� Heller said. 鈥淥ther challenges are a little more serious, like if you are trying to get the cryptids to be able to go around on human roads without being noticed.鈥�

Why the game works

The success of groups navigating disagreements in workplaces, communities and classrooms hinges on team dynamics, Hammer said. The game offers an effective way for players to learn to reach bigger goals without feeling like their own priorities are overlooked.听聽聽

鈥淲e asked: How do we get people to reflect on some of the negative behaviors that can come up when you're doing these kinds of collaborations across institutions, in a way that isn't going to make them want to avoid cross-institutional collaboration,鈥� she said.

Games are well-suited to facilitate learning because they offer players the chance to practice their skills in a low-stakes environment and then help them translate their experience from play to reality.

鈥淎fter the game, people are naturally inclined to talk about how it went and what they learned,鈥� Hammer said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a broad body of evidence that reflective debriefs are effective to help people apply their knowledge in a new context.鈥�

Heller and Hammer believe the reception they鈥檝e gotten so far from players of Monsters of Appalachia is early evidence that it works.

鈥淚t definitely succeeded at getting people to help each other, getting people to change how they saw each other,鈥� Heller said. 鈥淥ne high schooler was like, 鈥楾his is helping me understand other people's perspectives, and I think I could play this with my friends.鈥欌�澛�

How healthy teams talk to each other

The skills players practice in Monsters of Appalachia can be applied far beyond the game itself.听

黑料正能量 researcher and professor studies organizational behavior at the Tepper School of Business. She said that the way teams learn together is critical.

鈥淵ou can have all these experts, but if they don't coordinate and work well together, it doesn't matter,鈥� said聽Woolley. 鈥淭heir expertise won鈥檛 translate into a successful group outcome.鈥�

Once a group is formed, Woolley has found that there are certain behaviors that indicate the team is learning to work well together. One of the patterns Woolley has studied that signals strong team coordination is 鈥渂urstiness鈥� 鈥� clusters of responsive exchanges where teammates exchange information and build on each other鈥檚 ideas quickly.听

鈥淧eople are adjusting how and when they work to how their teammates work,鈥� she said. 鈥淏urstiness often fosters high engagement, an essential component of successful teamwork.鈥�

Woolley鈥檚 research shows that while it鈥檚 important to respect and value other members鈥� contributions, a well-functioning team doesn鈥檛 depend on members becoming friends or sharing the same social or political beliefs.听聽

鈥淲e've seen in our research that you don't necessarily need to be best buddies with your teammates. The most important thing is that everyone is committed to a shared goal,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey see the resources that others bring, and so they value the other people and their contributions. Teammates can highly value each other鈥檚 contributions to their work together but have no interest whatsoever in hanging out with each other outside of work, maybe because of differences in age, lifestyle or other social factors. Conversely, team members can be great friends, but be very weak as a team, often because members don鈥檛 want to challenge each other鈥檚 ideas or decisions in ways that might jeopardize the friendship.鈥�

Being able to work well together 鈥� regardless of differences 鈥� is an idea foundational to Monsters of Appalachia and the game鈥檚 designers. And it鈥檚 a skill that Woolley believes is increasingly important as more teams collaborate across hybrid or remote work environments. By giving people a low-stakes way to practice those skills, Hammer and Heller hope games like Monsters of Appalachia can help people work together when it matters most.听

鈥淥ne kind of transformation that you can achieve in games is you can feel connected to somebody that you didn鈥檛 previously feel like you have something in common with,鈥� Hammer said. 鈥淭hat can have powerful ripple effects.鈥澛�

Since they first launched the game, the 黑料正能量 team has made tweaks to improve player experience 鈥� like shortening how long it takes to play. After wrapping up a few more logistical issues, they hope to make the game available to community groups, educators and workplaces.听