The game I enjoyed the most this week was Betrayal at House on the Hill because I’ve never played a game like it before. There were so many mechanics to the game, and it wasn’t like any of the “basic” games I’ve played in the past. Everything from flipping over rooms, special characters, weapons, and to the haunt, I thought it was all so cool. During this time as well, I enjoyed the narration going on during the game which made me get into it more. The hardest part of this game was trying to beat the haunt. Thankfully, we have experienced players, so they guided us through the haunt eventually. These experienced players did a great job at guiding us on how we should approach the game. Though eventually we had to turn on a member because of the type of haunt, it was still cool to see how leadership and team work came out of the game. I would recommend this game to my friends here at Miami because I know they have never played anything like it. This game is cool in its complexity, and all the events the game contains within it.

I actually ended up playing both of these games, and I loved it. I love collaborative games where everyone is having fun, and working together towards the same goal. The hardest part of Hanabi was if myself or a group member would forget our card placements in our hand, we would have to flip over one of the bomb chips, and it would get us one step closer to losing the game. The hardest part of mental block was especially when we were using the challenger cards, where people had certain restrictions on how they can help out the team. Similar to when playing Werewolf, the ties to leadership and teamwork was within the rotational roles, and the role players we each took within the games. We all have the same goal, so we want to listen to each other, and hear what everyone can add to the table to win. I think my friends from back home and I would enjoy this game greatly because we love games where there is one goal, and we all want to win together.

During the first week of class, we played Werewolf. The hardest part about this was not a lot of us knew each other, so we would just target each other with no real good reasons. Though this was the case, we could still see it tie to the communication and listening aspect of rotational leadership. When we were looking to kick a member out of the game, people were respectful of one and another, we we leveraged these insights to make decisions. Although they were based loosely, it was still a display of teamwork and leadership. I think anyone who like the game Mafia would like this game as well because it is very similar, but has several more components to it which makes it very interesting.

I think Candy Land would be a cool game to remake with a social justice theme. I enjoy the simplicity of the game. Instead of colors, I would have the spaces be different topics such as race, gender, sexuality, other identities, and more. I would then have corresponding cards. On a player’s turn, they would draw a card and move to the next corresponding space. The goal would be to reach the end of the path to equality and inclusion. The players could use pieces designed to be influential people such as Martin Luther King Jr. Candy Land is known for its art on the board. The board could be redesigned to show images of influential protests and people of different eras. As players progress through the board, they move more from history into modern times. I think this is a cool idea that could be used to teach social justice to younger people. I never knew the term “social justice” until I was in high school. This game could be used to get kids thinking about this concept when they are young. Young people are the future leaders of the world. Social justice is really important. I think it is really important that people are educated about social justice because social justice promotes diversity and inclusion. It is important that all people are treated fairly. I think this game would be a good way to educate children about the history and ideas of social justice!

Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I was unable to play this game. I overcame this obstacle by reading the rules and watching the game be played. This is a really cool game that I would love to play. Players are divided into two teams: one red and one blue. These two teams then separate from each other. Players on each team select cards to figure out who the president and bomber are. One person from the blue team is the president, and one person from the red team is the bomber. In each round, a leader is selected for each team. The leader selects people who will be traded to the other team. Throughout the game, players are constantly being mixed up. At the end of the game, if the bomber is in the same room as the president, the red team wind. If the bomber and president are in separate rooms, the blue team wins. The hardest part of this game seems to be the parts of the game where players are selected to move to the other room. Players know their own roles and know where they should be to win. I imagine it is difficult to manipulate other people. I think this game has some ties to leadership because it involves communication. Communication is a really important skill. Additionally, teamwork is important. Both communication and teamwork are important in this game. People can communicate and work together to influence where people go. I would recommend this game for families, friends, or coworkers. I think this would be a really fun party game. I am sad I did not get to play this game, but I hope I will someday!

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is a really fun game that I play on my Xbox One. Call of Duty is a first-person shooter videogame. There are many different Call of Duty games. This version of Modern Warfare is fairly recent. This game offers many different modes such as campaign, Warzone, and many multiplayer options. 

The campaign is like a story mode. There is a series of events that a player follows. The player has to complete objectives. This is a really fun singleplayer mode. I have not fully played through this mode on this particular game, but I heard it takes around 6 hours to complete the whole story. In this mode, players are able to really practice playing the game and become more experienced.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has many fun multiplayer games, such as capture the flag, free-for-all, team games, and many more. This is a really fun way to play Call of Duty, and I find myself in this area of the game most often. This mode offers a lot of fun and varying games to play. Additionally, players can use a headset to communicate with other players, which makes it really fun. I personally really enjoy this game mode because experience points accumulate very quickly for me in multiplayer. Getting to higher levels helps me unlock new options for customizations of my player, weapons, and more.

One really cool mode in this game is Warzone. I think you may not even need Call of Duty: Modern Warfare to play Warzone. Warzone is a battle royale game mode. In this mode, players parachute onto a ginormous map. A safe zone is established in the shape of a circle in the map. After a few minutes, deadly gas comes in around that circle. This game mechanic forces players to interact. When players drop down into the game, they typically attempt to find new weapons to use. The game does not start you with a great weapon, so it is important to find better things to use. After getting weapons, players hide or move around the map hoping to be the last player standing. Warzone itself also has different modes that allow people to play independently, on a team of three people, or on a team of four people. This game mode is so much fun, and I really enjoy it.

I have been consistently impressed by Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. It is greatly apparent that a lot of work went into its production. There are so many game modes that are all well thought out. The graphics could, of course, be improved but are still fantastic. The attention to detail is unbelievable. The map used for Warzone is gigantic. Despite this humongous map, every little thing has details. Additionally, the music and other features in the game are fantastic. It is clear that a lot of effort has been put into the production of this game.

I think the greatest way this game can improve, in my opinion at least, is to further add to the multiplayer game mode. Any player, regardless of their level, can be put into the same multiplayer game. In some cases, a player who is level 1 could be competing against a player who is level 150. This type of situation has happened to me and it puts players at advantages or disadvantages. I would like to see more done with the rank system so that players can select to more frequently play against others of a similar rank.

Overall, this game is phenomenal. I have put so many hours into it because I really do enjoy playing it. For anyone who likes first-person shooter games and Call of Duty games, I really recommend this game!

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I have been unable to play the games which we were originally supposed to play for EDL290T, at Miami University. For this free play, I played the game Pandemic, which only seems fit considering the current situation. In the game, players work together to eradicate diseases. In the beginning, players are assigned different roles with different abilities that assist them in the game. The board is similar to risk. There are infected pieces on large cities. Players move around the map to remove these pieces. The goal is to remove all pieces. The diseases can spread really quickly, which is the hardest part of the game. It is difficult to stop it. It seems like when you finally start to clear up an area, it comes back or takes over another place. Despite the difficulty, it is still fun. I think the leadership skill of teamwork is present in this game. It is really important in this game and in life that you use different peoples’ strengths to accomplish a common goal. I would recommend this game to anyone. I think it is a great game for families, friends, coworkers, and any group of people. It is a lot of fun to play, and I definitely recommend it.

For the course, EDL290T, I created a Choose Your Own Adventure story. To create the story, I used a free program called Twinery. I don’t really have any experience with any sort of programming, so I had a lot to learn. I created a story about a zombie apocalypse. There are many different endings that involve escape, death, and more. This platform is not allowing me to post my Choose Your Own Adventure here, so please contact me at belkows@miamioh.edu if you would like to try my story!!!

Unfortunately, my time at Miami University was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I became very bored in my home and found myself playing many games on my iPhone. One game I really enjoyed during this time was Nonograms. A nonogram is similar to sudoku. The game app Nonograms allows players to play on different sized grids. The sides of the gridded board have numbers indicating which spaces on the grid should be colored in. Players have to work to figure out which parts should be colored in. When a grid is complete, it reveals an image. The hardest part of the game is when there are multiple different moves that can be made, but you do not know which is correct. Sometimes, you have to test things out to see if they will work. The app only allows you to make three mistakes. If you make more than three, you can watch an advertisement for more lives or start over. This makes the game more difficult. I think this game relates to leadership in a few ways. In leadership, it is important to strategize, plan ahead, and think of different outcomes. All of these are present in this game. Players really need to plan ahead and think about the moves they make. Leaders need to do this so they can best support others or their mission. I would recommend this game to anyone. I think this is a really fun game that anyone of any age could play. I really enjoyed this game and recommend it to anyone who is likely for a fun and peaceful game to play!