Are we supposed to post our final papers?

The Athens game thrilled and engaged me. Every time I entered the classroom, I could not wait for the game to commence and see how events would play out. Although I feel that I could have done more research on Athenian history, customs, and so on, I am not terribly interested in all of history. Even with an interest in Greek mythology, I did not have enough background knowledge to state anything in detail definitively. Regardless of interest or familiarity with Athenian history, I played true to the Middling Farmer until the last assembly meeting. I placed emphasis on compromise whenever I met with factions and other indeterminates. Overall, I played the Athens game adequately.

With a mere three pages of vague information, I felt that I was cheated in the goals department. I did speak with the Gamemaster per instructions; however that did not shed much light on my character and his goals. With the advantage of having some character history, such as having fought as a hoplite in the Peloponnesian war and owning a farm that was not completely ravaged by the Thirty Tyrants, I understood that keeping my family, my farm, and myself alive were integral to my character. "Middling" was the best description of any goals my character would have. Fortunately, I try to find compromises to most situations naturally. I assumed that my role would be simple because of similarities shared between my character and myself. Therefore, finding the middle path entailed finding out what each faction desired regarding the current subject and creatively solving the problem. However, the obstacle I encountered most frequently was that the "moderate" factions, which were the Oligarchs and the Moderate Democrats, refused to compromise enough to satisfy the other party. I was at a loss.

Reconciliation was the only sure-fire agreement between the two opposing factions. According to my understanding, reconciliation had to be passed in order for the game to progress. If reconciliation is written into the game plan, how could I consider agreement, which would occur regardless of my character's input, a victory? During the first assembly meeting, I was honestly surprised by the lack of support for the compromise I proposed regarding mention of the Thirty Tyrants. This incident clearly indicated that the middle path would be much harder to achieve than I originally thought.

For the majority of the issues discussed throughout the assembly meetings, I was prepared, but not to the extent I would have liked. Regarding current concerns, I contacted the faction members; I determined what they planned to discuss. Then, I decided on a decent compromise or an alternate route. However, rarely did my compromise have any effect on the assembly. One anomaly was the Bazaar of Education proposal. Almost all of the factions commended the unorthodox nature of the proposal. As time ran out, I was never able pass the proposal in the assumed landslide of approval.

The last assembly meeting proved that Athens should be relieved that we never ruled. With such extreme circumstances, compromise was inconceivable. In retrospect, I should have voted in favor of the council as stated by the Oligarchs. If memory serves, then the proposal would have failed by a tied vote. From this point, I could have proposed the amendment to limit membership. The only reason I wanted to limit the membership was because of the overwhelming imbalance of faction members within the military council. With middle ground comes balance. If any faction were to have an unfair advantage in such a council, I would have been unable to suggest any compromise with possibility of the proposal being considered.

Although I loved the alignment between the Middling Farmer's desires for the assembly and my own, I would have preferred more guidelines than those given in the character synopsis. As the game progressed, I fell into a routine of trying to stay one step ahead of the factions. I became competent in handling the Middling Farmer's role. However, my capability stemmed from the experience I gained, not from desire to be an indeterminate. I would have been better prepared for such an indistinct character if I had prior experience. Even though I did not play the game perfectly, I feel that the role of the Middling Farmer was executed justly.