AIC+Reflections+for+Winter+2014

=We would love to know what you thought about the Arab-Israeli Conflict Simulation, including what you liked, but also what you didn't, or how the simulation might work better. Thank you for your time and your suggestions!=

= Debriefing AIC -Francois Hollande =

When I began the simulation 2 months ago I did not know what to expect. I felt overwhelmed and a bit frightened that I was thrown into an everyday situation for these world leaders where I was the President of a powerful country. I began to realize that in order to do well in the simulation I would need to do my research on my character Francois Hollande. I read all the Dossiers and even researched outside of the site about him. I feel even though at times I wasn't the best leader I could have been but overall, I did a pretty good job.

Looking back, I feel overall the simulation was a very useful tool for interpreting the immense conflict that lied in front of us. It taught us how to think strategically about big problems, act on issues in a diplomatic and appropriate way and get a feel for what these world leaders go through on a daily basis. It also taught us how to work with others that we might not have necessarily liked or agreed with on issues. It even taught us how to persevere through the rough patches and work towards a common strategic goal with our Country team. Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed playing France because we were always in the middle due to our strong diplomatic relations with both of the sides. For me it was most enjoyable to play Francois because he was the leader of France and had the power to change/act on behalf of France. It felt really liberating to be in control and to have the deciding power. I also really enjoyed reading the news flashes and communicating with all the other world leaders. But by far the best part of the simulation is when you make headway in the conflict and actually accomplish one of your ten goals.

However I did feel that the simulation was a little lacking in some areas. I felt that overall people in our game tried to simulate in an accurate manner. Although, there were some inaccurate things. There were also some leaders who weren't the best at this and weren't so quick to return my communiques. Another complaint I would have about the simulation would be the lack of diplomacy from some leaders and the length of their communiques back to me. I have received some messages that are exactly one sentence in response to my 3 paragraph message and I have also received things along the lines of HMU or other disrespectful talk from several leaders. Overall, I felt that the simulation could be improved in many ways. I felt that some countries took the simulation lightly and others did a really great job. I also felt that even though we were all in the same game all the countries were not on at the same time. But by far, the biggest complaint I have is when you work hard to plan a conference around everyone’s schedules and classes and finally find a date for the conference, some nations never show up despite the fact that I confirmed it and double confirmed it. For me as a student playing this game, it felt both disrespectful and insulting because here I am trying hard to solve this but your not here and aren't taking this game seriously.

If I were to make suggestions to the game mentor and the NSA’s it would be the following. I would suggest that you pair the game up with people who actually have class at the same time. Another thing that the NSA’s and Mentor could have done better would be reading press releases because at least from my experience mine didn’t get published until much after the event had already taken place. As for the NSA’s I would suggest a weekly check in with each of your nations making sure they are responding appropriately and actually taking action in the simulation. I feel that if you did the following the simulation would have gone a lot smoother.

Liked: Learning about the conflicts of the middle east Being able to interact with other countries The simulation overall Having peace conferences to try and come to an understanding with the surrounding countries "Communiques"- this was our most effective form of diplomacy

Didn't: I think it should be more interactive Waiting for our Game Mentor to respond (some action forms/press releases were never submitted) I would have liked more Game Updates


 * Things I liked:
 * I was able to develop a deeper understanding of Palestinian Hamas.
 * It was fun to work from a point of view that I may not have fully understood or agreed with at the start of the simulation.
 * I learned how to be diplomatically strategic through the use of very specific diction and careful alliances.
 * I developed an appreciation for the precariousness of politics in such a volatile part of the world.
 * Things I didn't like:
 * A few people made ridiculous threats or accusations that would never happen in the real world, which demonstrated either a lack of understanding in modern politics, or not taking the game seriously.
 * The review process took such a long time that it was hard to get anything done. There was the same problem with communication between factions.

First off, I would like to say thank you to our game mentors and the persons involved who set up the simulation. For the most part the game ran smoothly without any serious flaws. One critique that our group had was the inability to send emails to anyone in the game (you could only choose from a preselected list of individuals). In addition, we found some of the forms to be unnecessarily long and/or repetitive in the type of questions that they asked. Aspects of the game that I enjoyed included: understanding the complex network of alliances and diplomatic processes involved in the Middle East, playing a real-life person and getting to speak from their point of view, and finally the interactive features present on the website (commentary sections).