The Big Post-Summit Blog Post

Every game has two aspects: the game and the metagame.

The game is what you play by following certain rules, accomplishing objectives, finishing within a certain time, and seeking the advantage within an established environment. The metagame (literally beyond the game) is determined largely by external factors, is not confined in any environment, and is not governed by the rules of the established game. For example, the game of basketball is played in four quarters and can be watched on TV. The metagame is played when fans match up players using statistics, when we speculate on the fortunes of the team during the draft, and when bets are made on who wins or not. The Middle East Summit (henceforth MES) was like that. The game is what you played every SocSci period, and the metagame covers everything else you’ve done outside of it. You really can’t have one without the other.

The MES was originally designed as a simulation of Middle East peace talks. For the past school years, the game has remained largely unchanged. But if my students before saw the game as it is now, they’d see one that is much more complex, deep, and even unpredictable. The resources and objectives available are still designed to lead to certain behaviors, although now there is much more room for playful minds to maneuver in.

In the past years, the Iran-Iraq war got solved in the first five minutes. The USA got their oil in the first ten minutes. And the Arab-Israeli problem was solved by a lot of point-scoring. My students then had played the game really well, but the metagame wasn’t particularly deep. With some tweaks in the game this year, the metagame has become even more important. For many students, that was where the real game was played. The deal-making was very vicious this year. The spies were craftier. And the alliances ran much more deep. More summits this year than in the past five years combined almost resorted to all out war, two got pretty emotional and one was on the verge of nuclear annihilation on the first day.

In the end, what this deeper metagame achieved was a more internal motivation within the classes to actually work together and thus a more satisfying (for most) payoff in the end. As far as I’m concerned, the MES metagame began when we played with Win As Much As You Can and ended when I turned on the classes with a deal of my own.

What follows are some comments about the performance of my five sections. I am not providing a detailed chronology of each one (that’s for their post-summit paper) but some insights into what I’ve seen in their respective games and metagames.

CAMIA

I looked forward to Camia’s summit a lot. They began theirs one day ahead of everybody else, and I couldn’t wait to see how the slight tweaks I made affected the overall gameplay. Apparently, that small tweak I made in one of Iraq’s goals changed the Iran-Iraq dynamic immensely. Iraq became more difficult to deal with and their war became a major frontier in the Cold War. This is good, since the old game never really gave the conflict the attention it deserved; the students assigned Iran and Iraq usually felt useless halfway through day one.  Now, the Iran-Iraq war consumed Camia for the entire first day.

They went back and forth on it until the session ended with perhaps one of the more memorable moments in this year’s summits. Determined to see an Iraqi victory, the USSR rallied the other Arab armies against Iran. They even (strangely) got the support of the USA who then reversed their position in the last minute, forcing a nuclear war between the two superpowers. I still can’t forget the cries of panic that filled the room when it actually happened and it was then that I realized how high the stakes have become this school year.

Thankfully, the class turned themselves around on day two. I’ve been told that outside of SocSci class the teams all decided to sacrifice one goal, making it clear to me that their close call was a reason enough for them to work towards peace without me telling to. The USA, despite earning the annoyance of all on day one, became the chief architect of the peace deal on day two. Technically, the class figured out how to make it all work. Though they were constrained by having to give off most of their aid to solve the Iran-Iraq war, the superpowers provided what was necessary for Israel and the Arabs to sacrifice, thus leading to a successful conclusion of their peace summit.

CHAMPACA

Champaca probably had the deepest metagame in all my five sections. The fact that it got terribly personal towards the end is proof enough of that. Furthermore, I’ve probably entertained the most questions from them. If there was a class who I think played the game as a game, it’s Champaca.

That said, I was really impressed throughout most of their summit. They had one of the best first days. I loved how the US and the USSR played it clean and helped solve the Iran-Iraq war peacefully. Day two also had a fantastic start. The US played a key role in solving the issue of Israel and the USSR continued playing the role of a good partner. Having achieved all twelve goals ten minutes before my deadline, I was expecting the class to adjourn early for us to discuss how they succeeded. Then the unthinkable happened. The PLO, with the allegiance of its Arab neighbors, attacked a fellow Arab neighbor, Syria. They then colonized it, coopted its resources, and walked away with the economic aid Syria received from the United States.

While there have been historical accounts of PLO attacks against Israeli bases in Syria, the move – in the context of the summit – made absolutely no sense especially when Israel, a sworn enemy of the PLO, allowed the Syrian invasion. I often say that the outcomes of the summit fall in a spectrum: from the orthodox or traditional which essentially follows what actually happened to revisionist which is basically a What If? scenario.

This outcome was firmly in the revisionist camp, but also bordered on the absurd. Neither did it make sense as a win-win scenario. They suggested that since Israel has sacrificed so much, the PLO would then hand back the Golan Heights to Israel after their successful invasion of Syria. Sure, it was good politics on the part of Israel and the PLO, but I just can’t see how this becomes a win-win when they eliminate an entire team in the process.

Initially, I was inclined to let the situation play itself out. The US began moving towards solving the conflict and I was eager to see how they resolved the situation. But the PLO’s move has been so shocking and earth-shattering that inevitably, Champaca’s metagame took over the game itself. It became personal, and confusing. The longer I let the summit run, I realized, the more the class would lose track of what the game is all about.

That’s why I stopped it right then and there. To those in the class who felt that I stopped the summit prematurely, I apologize if I disappointed you. I’m sorry. However, I have my reasons.

First, the move made no sense in the context of what the summit was trying to achieve. I found the move smart but deeply misguided for the reasons I’ve already stated above. It threatened what you guys have already worked hard to achieve, as I’ve illustrated when we went through your points one by one.

Second, there is a line that we don’t cross in my class. We don’t cross that line because it’s a hard line to get back from. While I encourage competition for it enhances the activity, I hold the line at where it gets personal and offensive. You don’t get to say “Walang personalan” and then look after your own interests. It doesn’t work that way. And while real politicians would really behave that way, don’t tell me that when you yourselves are so burned out with how politicians and government leaders act in the world today. You guys can be better than that, and I wanted to drive that point home.

That’s why I stopped it. We reached a point where it was no longer worth it. You’ve injected your metagame into the summit and I had to respond by injecting a metagame of my own. But I’ve taken nothing away from you. In fact I’ve given you all a chance to make things right and I am thankful that you all did. The road to your success may have been rockier than the others, but as far as I’m concerned, we’re good. However, I now feel that some in the class will be stuck in the summit for a little while longer. The good news is that I’ve spoken to some of those people affected, and I am confident that the class will be good again. And perhaps you won’t believe me when I say that I can find it in me to be proud of you, but you’ll get it one day.

DAHLIA

Dahlia had much drama in the beginning too, and they required an intervention before the summit even began. Their metagame started really early and threatened their prospects for forging peace right from the beginning. It is perhaps because of this early intervention that their summit turned out really well. Or rather – If I had an image of the ideal summit where everything worked excellently, it would look a lot like what Dahlia had.

It looked like the real thing, from their manner to their matter. They actually negotiated on things not on the twelve issues to be resolved such as the jurisdiction of the Suez Canal and the Shatt-al-Arab water way. The execution of the summit was also technically sound. The discussions stayed within the conference table, not a single recess was called, and the secretaries shuttled across the room silently and efficiently. But if ever I will be pressed to name one negative thing about their summit, it would be that they were just too damn nice! Then again I have to be careful what I wish for, and be glad that they learned their lesson early when it mattered most.

Their summit has been such a great success that I don’t need to elaborate on the specifics of it really. I just look forward to reading more about it in their own papers soon. Good job!

ILANG-ILANG

Ilang’s day one worked out really well. But day two began to suffer in terms of their over-all strategy. My advice to the class was really specific and I feel that writing it here will give too much away to future teams.  In summary it involves the relationship of the various goals and how they must be seen together. There is a reason why it’s called aid (synonym: assistance) and why the superpowers have them in abundance while the rest don’t. Something to think about!

Another thing that Ilang’s summit showed was the dangers of having too much information. Having all the intelligence with you at one time can also be stifling with those who have it feeling that peace can simply be engineered. On the brighter side, this showed the kind of influence two superpowers can have as the US and USSR were equally dominant and yet had contrasting styles. It was really an interesting dynamic.

Ilang’s summits win the most points for creativity. That ‘mock war’ idea was really unique, though I have some serious questions about it politically and militarily. But never mind. It’s one of those ideas that fall into the category of “so crazy that it just might work!” and it did.

JASMIN

I’ve always wanted to see a summit with a plausible revisionist scenario where the USSR dominates the Cold War in the Middle East. Jasmin’s summit is the closest we’ve gotten to it by far. In terms of quality, theirs is most comparable to Camia’s. Though while the US dominated that one, this was USSR all the way. They had a very heavy hand in the Middle East and essentially imposed their will over most of the Arab countries. For most of the summit, I wished that the US pushed harder and I am glad that at the most critical time, they did so.

I don’t recall the last time a class attempted an outright invasion of Israel. The summits in the past have always been so afraid of Israel that they don’t really go beyond threats. But this class had their armies lined up against each other and at one point, the Arabs were even certain of victory – until the US pledged support to Israel and evened the odds. The prospect of Arab defeat gave everyone pause. Secret meetings outside of SocSci between the US and some of the Arab countries, as well as thoughtful posts on Facebook were early signs of the shift in tenor. True enough, day two proved to be wholly different.

The only true consequence of Soviet influence in the summit however, has been in the outcome of the Iran-Iraq war. Since the USSR had much at stake in an Iraqi victory, they were able to engineer that successfully, making Iran a protectorate of Iraq(!). It was an interesting choice. Revisionist history indeed.

THE FINAL DEAL

At the end of each summit, I gave my classes a final deal. What my classes didn’t realize then was that it was their final test as well. The classes who worked best together didn’t even have to choose; the classes who struggled through the summit, struggled with the choice.

Each team had a set of goals, each with their pluses and minuses. As originally announced, I score their sheets after the summit and reward them accordingly. Those who score 80% and above get a merit, and those who score 20% and below get a demerit. However, I was open to doing away with the points completely, and everyone in class would get to leave on equal footing. It’s a tough choice to make but for those who found the secret to the summit, there was no choice to make at all.

Dahlia accepted the deal in a heartbeat. Champaca took the longest and it even went down to a split vote of 6-5 slightly in favor of doing away with the scores. Jasmin followed Dahlia, and Camia and Ilang more or less took the same time to decide.

What I find amazing about this activity is that year in and year out, what I get really differs from class to class. The summits never really end one way, especially this year when the game is the most unhinged so far.

In closing, I’d like my students to know how immensely proud I am of all of them. I know I push you all really hard and you do your best every time. I wish you could see yourselves in your suits, and hear yourselves address each other and negotiate a peaceful settlement to the conflicts in the Middle East. It’s really mind blasting to see how far you’ve gone from the first quarter, and I can’t wait to see what happens next. The best, really, is yet to come. You guys are proof of that.

So good luck in your other subjects and I wish you best for YMSAT week! See everyone again very soon!

Advertisement