This week in class, we played Ultimate Werewolf, and I was assigned the role of the Sorceress. We read the rules at the beginning of class and were told what each role meant and the powers we had. One of the harder parts of the game was understanding what my role was. I knew what I was meant to do each round, but didn’t really understand the bigger picture of my role. One other difficult part of the game was that we were meeting each other for the first time, so it took a while for all the students to warm up to each other.
The game required a significant amount of dialogue and because there was little to no familiarity, the dialogue was stalled and only a few people contributed to the discussion. It was a little difficult because of the number of people who were playing the game. We were a larger group, and it was hard to point out the telling behaviors that might have given clues as to who was “guilty”.
The game had specific leadership themes, and one of them was the effect of charisma in leaders. Throughout the game, there was a handful to students who spoke and contributed more than others. And as the game progressed, a lot of the decisions backed up by other players were made by those who werre more vocal. For example, if one of the more vocal students pointed out another player to be kicked out of the round, it was more than likely that other students would point out that same player. This trend points towards the likelihood of those that are more vocal to be seen or characterized as leaders.
There was a bit of risk in the game because by taking a player out of the game, you risk removing a player that could have helped your chances. This isn’t similar to taking risks in leadership because in leadership, I would aim to have more information before making any risky decisions.
I would probably play this game with a group of 7-8 close friends. This is because with close friends, it’s easier to know who migh be lying because we are familiar with each other’s mannerisms and tells. It’d be great at a small birthday party.