Sydney Pezza-Luther (Game of Risk)

Upon playing the game of Risk for the first time, it could be noticed that there are some realistic and unrealistic factors of the game.  For example, with playing the game for a total of two class periods it could be demonstrated the difficulty to achieve an objective in world politics.  It was extremely troublesome to talk to other teams and try to achieve a specific goal.  One team may want an alliance to benefit themselves, however, in some instances the other team would not want an alliance since it would harm their relationship with another team.  As a result, cooperating with other teams and trying to maintain a certain objective to win the game was a struggle.  In addition, similar to world politics, one becomes self-consumed in the game and loses focus of what the others are trying to accomplish.  For example, most teams were so consumed on their own goal and did not consider what other teams were trying to complete.  In real life politics this is very common since a country is directly concerned of what is going on within its boundaries rather than in other areas.
The game of Risk also had some unrealistics qualities as well.  For example, in the game going to war and taking over an area was based simply on luck through hoping to roll a higher number.  However, in real life going to war is not necessarily based on luck but rather the men and weapons one has.  Another unrealistic factor was that all armies are basically equal except for the numbers, but in actuality one’s army strength varies greatly depending on the place.  For example, the United States has the strongest military force around the world due to its large numbers and weapons whereas other armies do not compare to the U.S.  The lack of knowledge was another unrealistic conflict as well while playing the game.  Only a few were aware of the game rules and methods, whereas others were did not know the structure of the game.  As a result, while negotiating and creating alliances with other teams it lacked legitimacy, unlike world politics.  

In order to make the game of Risk more similar world politics there are certain aspects that should be added to the game.  For example, value should be added to certain lands through specific resources found in each country, making teams find them to be beneficial to acquire.  In addition, while playing the game of Risk there is much waiting around for your turn which only last a certain amount of minutes.  As a result, to make the game more like world politics the room should be set up differently allowing easy confrontation with other teams during the waiting time.  Therefore, they can create a strategic plan for the next turn.  Also, the board should be made more visible so a team can see what is going on at all times and what problems are arising.  In addition, in order to make the councils more official and similar to world politics the diplomats can go into a different room seperated from all teams and negotiate there instead of in front of the whole class.  

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