The game of the week this week was werewolf and personally, I really enjoyed this game. I thought it was very complex and I enjoyed all of the different elements to it. The storyline was fun, as well as the narrations from JS. I felt like it was a great way to get the class to engage with each other, and we seem to be more comfortable with each other now. I wish the game was easier to play with a smaller group, because I really don’t know when I’ll be able to be in a group this large playing games again, but if given the chance, I would enjoy playing this game again. I think my friends on campus, which I met while studying abroad, would all like this game, and that we would get very intense while playing it, however, there’s only 6 of us. The game is different for each person depending on which role you have, and you’re unlikely to get the same role each time you play, making it a game that never gets old or boring. I enjoyed that JC had us clap while the nights in the game were happening, just to make it more fair. I also enjoyed that we were able to speed up the timing towards the end so we could concretely finish the game.
I was a werewolf in the game, so I felt like there was a lot of responsibility on me to protect my role and not be obvious. I haven’t played a game like this in a while, and when accused, I’m not a great liar, so I was pretty nervous about being detected. Somehow others figured out it was me just based on external evidence, I guess the PR ( I think) person detected that there was a werewolf in my section of the circle and I was suspected, because the guy beside me already told everyone his role. This is just how the game is played and I’m glad that others had a more comprehensive understanding, but I was a little confused how I found out. I wish I had read about what the roles do prior to coming to class, because while playing the game I had some questions, but asking those questions would have easily given my position / role away. Even just asking to speak to JC privately would emphasize to everyone that I clearly have some sort of important role and don’t want to mess it up. For this reason, I think giving everyone cards with a description of every role and what they do, would be beneficial for reference during the game. I think this is a game that gets easier the more you play it as well, because those who were more familiar, seemed to have an upper hand and were able to play strategically. It was helpful to have these people.
I think this game ties to leadership very well by the idea of group think. Once one person said their case for believing someone was a werewolf, everyone else seemed to jump on board with that idea, rather than forming their own opinions. Even after the person tried to defend themselves, everyone still voted for them to be removed from the circle anyways. We didn’t necessarily have one leader, but we had about 5 people that were consistently talking, and I think they acted as leaders in a way. I think with games like this, some people kind of have to step up and speak more, otherwise the game won’t go anywhere. With the rounds needing to go quickly, we didn’t have enough time to go around the circle and ask for each individual opinion. Those who wanted to speak were free to do so, and I think we were all kind and respectful of each other’s opinions. I can see how some people might get frustrated during this game, but we all acted mature. I felt like while I wanted to take on more of a leadership role so I could more easily protect my position, as well as the other werewolves, I didn’t have enough confidence / information to make logical sense. I would have ended up talking myself into a hole and giving away my position. Because I had a very important and specific duty, I wasn’t too willing to take risks. I think in leadership if I have an intuition about something, accompanied by the knowledge, and drive to achieve something, I definitely am not opposed to taking risks. In this instance, the risk was too heavy for me. I just wanted to be a part of the game for as long as possible so I could complete the werewolves mission, as well as being more entertained by engaging, vs sitting out. I was very nervous that someone was going to detect one of my other fellow werewolves, and then by suddenly chiming in or being the literal only person not to vote for them to be removed, that would have obviously given away my position as well. I’m still not sure what the best strategic move is in that situation, but I hope that I can one day play this game again and watch more interesting situations unfold.