Scenario games: practising decisions under pressure as a team

What a scenario game is

The CoVince multiplayer scenario game is built for teams. A team gets one incident to handle. Each player has a role and knows things the others do not, on their own phone. On a central screen the story unfolds, with video, 360 imagery or an avatar as guide, and meters that show what happens to the world. The players’ decisions are combined; the outcome is deterministic and there are multiple endings.

You can play it with a game leader or let it run automatically. There is also a solo version and a workday variant with a virtual colleague.

Why secret information works so well

In real work nobody ever has the full picture. The art is organising that: asking questions, sharing information, prioritising. A game in which everyone has a piece of the truth forces that behaviour. Whoever stays silent leaves the team in the dark; whoever talks without listening misses the crucial clue.

That is the difference with a case on paper. There you can read all the facts at once and think up your own solution. In a game you have to do it together, under time pressure, with incomplete information.

Examples

• Cyber: CEO fraud and a press call during an incident.
• Healthcare: a night-time outbreak on a ward.
• Construction: formwork, a site walk and a day at the trench.

You make your own scenarios with an AI wizard, which generates a first scenario. After that you refine it in the editor. There is also a teacher view to follow players, scores and interventions.

The debrief is where the learning is

A game that ends with a score is a game. A game that ends with a good conversation is a training. In the debrief CoVince shows who knew what when. That makes visible where the team left information lying, where a role was not heard and which decision rested on which information.

A good facilitator asks three questions: what happened, why do you think it went that way, and what will you do differently next time? The game supplies the facts; the conversation supplies the insight.

How to use it

1. Choose a scenario that fits a real risk in your work.
2. Make sure participants play their own role, or precisely a different one (that builds understanding for colleagues).
3. Plan the discussion in advance, at least as long as the game.
4. Repeat after a while: a second round shows what has stuck.

For planning and facilitation, see planning classes and sessions.

By way of illustration: CEO fraud

This is what such a scenario might look like (an illustration, not the literal working-out of the example scenario). An employee in finance receives an email that seems to come from the director: an amount has to be transferred today, and it is confidential. Four people play along in the scenario: the employee, the team leader, someone from IT and a lawyer. Each has a piece of information. IT sees that the email address is slightly off. The lawyer knows there is a procedure for urgent payments. The team leader knows the director is travelling.

If the players do not share what they know, the payment goes through and a different ending follows. If they talk and put the puzzle together, they stop the payment. Afterwards the debrief shows who knew what when and where the information got stuck. That is the conversation that makes a team better.

Pitfalls when organising

• A game without a discussion. The score is secondary. Plan the debrief as long as the game.
• Too much winning. A scenario that always ends well teaches nothing. Multiple endings and real dilemmas keep it exciting.
• Putting people in a role that does not fit. Sometimes someone learns the most by playing a different role. Discuss in advance who does what.
• Technology as the conversation. Keep the story and the people central, not the screen.

For planning and facilitation, see the role of the trainer.

Designing your own scenario

A good scenario starts from a real incident or dilemma from your work. Describe what happened, who was involved and what everyone knew. Divide that knowledge over roles, so nobody has the whole story. Think of two or three choice moments where it makes a difference what the team does, and decide which endings belong to them.

1. Choose one core question: what do you want the team to practise?
2. Write the facts and divide them over the roles.
3. Define the choice moments and the consequences.
4. Let the AI wizard make a first version and adjust it in the editor.
5. Test with a small team and see whether the debrief yields the conversation you want.

Have your own games built too

Besides the team game you can have AI make your own HTML games as a swipeslide, with a self-check. That suits smaller exercises: a sorting game, a quiz with a twist, a simulation of a process. Combine them with swipeslides to learn briefly and actively.