Students learn diplomacy with board game in honors seminar

Home Features Students learn diplomacy with board game in honors seminar

Every Tuesday night a ruckus echoes through the third floor of Lane Hall.  It is not, however, caused by a football game or a presidential debate.  Rather, it is the result of an honors seminar focused on a board game.

Diplomacy is a World War I domination board game, along the lines of Risk or Axis and Allies. Unlike these games, Diplomacy focuses more on the player’s diplomatic interactions with each other, rather than their interactions with the board or the roll of a die.

Visiting Assistant Professor of History Samuel Negus, who doubles as game master and professor, explained the importance of communication and diplomacy between players.

“Unlike Risk, you start with very few pieces, and building pieces is very hard. No single player has enough pieces to win the game by working alone, so you have to work to get allies,” Negus said. “Since there is no chance built into the game, all of the skill is away from the board and outside of class.”

The students have completely bought into the game, and use a variety of diplomatic tactics outside of class to bring the other players to their side.

“The complexity of the game adds pressure to everyone and I think we all want to show that we have what it takes to win a war and take over the continent,” sophomore Brant Cohen, who is playing as Russia, said. “The competition is so tough in this class that we sneak around outside of class making alliances, deals, spying, and consulting just so we can make one move the next week.”

While Negus has never played the game, he has an important role in giving advice to any player willing to stop by his office.

“It is really nice that we can take a break from our work and enjoy a nice cup of tea while talking over strategy for the game,” Cohen said. “He tries to be fair to everyone who comes to his office and he works to be as unbiased as possible.”

While the class is game-centric, only a portion of each class is actually spent executing moves on the board.  The rest of the class is focused on discussing what could be learned from that week’s move, and discussing the WWI history readings assigned for the week.

“We have really started to learn how complicated it is to build relationships with other countries,” sophomore Joe Pappalardo, who controls Germany, said. “We compare what we saw in World War I to modern examples like Russia and Turkey fighting over Syria.”

Negus noted that the game contains many lessons, including the importance of negotiation, the delicacy international relations, and the necessity of intelligence agencies working with foreign ministers.

“Playing this game is a way for my students to understand these things that happen on a massive geopolitical scale, that decide the fate of the world, are just a grand scale of things that we might do from week to week,” Negus said.

Right now it is unclear if the class will be offered again next year. For the time being, this year’s players will continue to shout, spy, and negotiate their way to domination.

“You’re not allowed to break the law or the Honor Code,” Negus said. “Other than that, away from the board, there are no rules.