The Dragons are Coming

90min - 3hrs

Game

The Tragedy of the Commons comes alive in this fast and fun simulation! The Dragons represent an external threat we all have to rally against - but do we all have to contribute equally? Will we be rewarded equally? Throw in the opportunity to indulge in a little subterfuge and opportunism, and suddenly collaboration looks a little harder than we thought!

Word has come in from up north that a flight of Dragons is heading towards us, wreaking havoc through villages as they come. They could be defeated by a large enough Alliance Force, but do we have the time – and the will – to assemble such a force?

Collective goal

Group performance

Practical outcomes

Overview

This Pod&Hive virtual simulation tests a timeless tension between pursuing local opportunity and advantage versus contributing to a wider collective goal. It has a rigorous basis in the mathematics of game theory and the social economics of the Tragedy of the Commons.

The Dragons Are Coming simulation gives participants a real-time experience of the difficulty of influencing without authority and leading across boundaries, and explores the tension between local or personal KPIs and group performance.

The game can be played in real time either in a live room together, or across a virtual platform such as Zoom. Participants can be placed into either random or pre-configured teams. Each team discusses their strategy privately and submits their resourcing decisions by smartphone each round. The plenary room is used to debate, influence, cajole and argue with other teams, and importantly to see the group results each round. The tension builds as the game edges towards the ultimate rounds and the group goal gets closer... or not!

As a learning experience in your training program, as a team building exercise in your offsite, or as a keystone event at your next conference, this simulation exercise is an absolute standout. Fun, funny, energetic and interactive, with learning and a message to reinforce your conference theme – it will be talked about afterwards and make your event memorable!

Outcomes

The Dragons Are Coming has a flexible debrief that can be customised to meet your learning needs or conference themes. The simulation lends itself to discussions around:

Experiencing the tension between focusing on my personal goals or objectives and contributing to a broader group goal;
Attempting to collaborate across numerous different teams without any authority to rely on or appeal to;
Dealing with and responding to random disruption of my planning, adjusting strategy in response to the actions of others;
Holding other teams to account for their commitments when you can't see what they're doing;
Understanding how over or under contribution across large teams affects behaviour.