Simulation - Strategies
The simulation intends to place you in the role of a player in a real-world political situation. Different roles naturally begin a simulation with different strengths and weaknesses and you are not judged directly against another team which may benefit from greater resources or prestige. It is your ability to maximise your own role's resources, to be aware of your peculiar strengths and weaknesses and to utilise them to the utmost that will determine your success (or failure) in a simulation. In other words, you are being marked not on your status (all roles begin on a different footing) but on your ability to play politics while being true to the ideals of your role.
A simulation is about interpreting reality, and power relationships. It is not about making a poor pantomime of real-life events. Once a simulation starts, each character's actions determine their fate. Albeit, control does attempt to moderate the excesses found in a simulation, where players do not live up to their role, they quickly learn that better politicians will usurp their power. This is the essence of politics.
Two broad principles should be understood to bring success in a simulation:
- know thyself - you need to know your character inside and out, like your closest friend, to be able to make full, effective (and in-character) use of all your strengths as well as your weaknesses. A poor understanding of your role, your potentials and your options is akin to stumbling about blindly
- everything in moderation - everything has a centre of gravity; the further you reach, plot and plan in any direction, the more you are putting yourself out on a limb. This is where regular reappraisal of your aims and position becomes important, before you become so absorbed in your advances that you leave your flank unguarded.
There are many more interpretations to these two principles, but this brief introduction should be enough to build on with your own research.
A further practical consideration is that you should best exploit real-world relationships and opportunities. This means making contact and talking to other students playing in the simulation - a casual discussion can often provide a little more information that you wouldn't otherwise have. Similarly, this approach will improve your position in email because people who know you in person are much more likely to respond and react to approaches when they can put a face to a character. Some of the best simulation teams spend as much time networking in real-life to promote their agendas and gather information as they do sending email. Another useful approach is to negotiate a deal in person, then return to email and play through the same negotiation to formalise it (keeping in mind you are marked on your email).
At the same time you should be careful about the security of your account. Countless times a simulation team will leave their account open or their computer unguarded at university and another team will take advantage of this. Similarly, some teams in a simulation specialise in getting "passwords" - most often by watching you type as you login (or even helping some teams to login). Someone with access to your mail can:
- Discover your plans and allies
- Delete important messages you may not have read yet
- Send mail in your name to undermine your position
It is therefore very important to always logout of your simulation account, to change your password (in co-ordination with teammates) regularly, and to be careful when typing your password to login. A password should also be composed of letters and numbers and not be a common word/number combination (eg "Paris12" is a bad password, "#9Salm9" is harder to guess). Finally, remember to only change your password in co-ordination with your team-mates (or they won't be able to login) and do so at least once a week.
For further study on the tactical side of things, a number of the Forty-Eight Laws of Power have been reproduced below. A full version of this book can be acquired online via Amazon.com:
- Law 1 - Never outshine the master
- Law 2 - Never put too much trust in friends, learn how to use enemies
- Law 5 - Court attention at all cost
- Law 11 - Learn to keep people dependent on you
- Law 15 - Crush your enemy totally
- Law 18 - Do not build fortresses to protect yourself - isolation is dangerous
- Law 19 - Know who you're dealing with - do not offend the wrong person
- Law 20 - Do not commit to anyone
- Law 26 - Keep your hands clean
- Law 29 - Plan all the way to the end
- Law 31 - Control the options - get others to play with the cards you deal
- Law 35 - Master the art of timing
- Law 39 - Stir up waters to catch fish
- Law 45 - Preach the need for change, but never reform too much at once
- Law 47 - Do not go past the mark you aimed for; in victory, learn when to stop
The key in applying these "laws" in a simulation becomes a matter of timing. Poor timing and execution may make even the best planned action fail, and no amount of planning and rehearsal can take the place of fluid, responsive and appropriate action.