The Web-Supported Negotiation Game “Surfing Global Change”

Abstract

The negotiation oriented and partly web-based game “Surfing Global Change” (SGC, © Gilbert Ahamer) was originally invented and implemented by the author and copyright holder for use in advanced interdisciplinary university courses in the spirit of ‘blended learning.’ Didactics of SGC is grounded in “active, self-organized learning”, training of “competence to act” and responsibility for both practicable and sustainable solutions for the future society, hence constructionist “creation of meaning”. This paper presents the rules of the game as a case study of rule-based online learning tool, used over two dozen times at Austrian universities. The outlay of SGC aims at weighing out competition vs. consensus, self-study vs. team work, sharpening one’s own standpoint vs. readiness to compromise, differentiation into details vs. integration into a whole, and hence, seeks to mirror professional realities. In this spirit, the architecture of SGC provides a framework for “game-based learning” along five interactive game levels. SGC’s rules trigger two distinct processes: social dynamics among peer students in the class and their individual striving for good grades. These two targets provide useful tension during game play.