Melissa Williams
3.1.2007

I must truly say the Athens game was fascinating. I have never had the opportunity to engage in a class which had a debate format like this one. I have never been involved in debate up to this point. Nor have I ever had the opportunity to be in a role playing capacity. The landscape was ever changing and it was a lot of fun.
When class began I had decided that I wanted to be an oligarch because that seemed to be easier for me to argue since it is closer to my actual beliefs. When I was assigned the role of a radical democrat I was at first afraid because I knew that it was very contradictory to my own thoughts. I did not think that I could make very good arguments for something that I did not already feel in my gut. However, I found the exercise of arguing an opposing view of my own invigorating, and enlightening. Furthermore, when for example my character was developing arguments against Socrates just how full of hot air many of the charges were. I really thought about how difficult it must be to be a politician whether in ancient Athens or anywhere.
When I went into the class I had no idea how much work would be involved outside of the classroom. We were meeting in faction almost every day before school and after class almost everyday as well. There were also many late night phone calls between Juliana and myself trying to figure out what our next move should be. There was a lot of research that was necessary for the process to come up with proposals as well. Already having a Classics degree I thought I knew every thing there was to know about ancient Greece. Goodness was I wrong. When we were having all of these late night conversations we would think we had found a solution and then there would be an exception to a problem we thought we had answered.
The ever evolving plot kept the game quite interesting. The lack of intelligence which we suffered towards the end of the game about the Spartan invasion was slightly frustrating as well. In ancient Athens they probably had the situation not knowing who to trust with intelligence information. I wondered at times if I could even trust myself. It was a great way to experience the frustration and lack of technology in the ancient world.
I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and I cannot wait for the China game. I must admit I did not realize that I should have been focusing more on fulfilling my historical role than on trying to accomplish objectives. Also, I wish I had realized that compromising was not what I should have done, for example in the trial against Socrates. I learned a lot and I look forward to the next game in eager anticipation.