New Peace Game Aims to Change the World by Amelia Thomas

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New Peace Game Aims to Change the World

by Amelia Thomas

09 September 2005

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Jerusalem - Last month in Japan, young Israeli designer, Tamar Meshulam, won first place in the UNESCO Design Awards, a contest held every five years in order to inspire designers worldwide to gear their creations toward changing the world for the better.

Meshulam's winning design, which aims to do just that - albeit in a quiet, subtle way - is a unique intercultural board game, named "Master Peace."

Created whilst Meshulam pursued an international Masters degree in 'Humanitarian Design' in the Netherlands, the game takes players on an imaginary journey around a large white circular board, away from a place called "Home," and then back to it again. During the process, players work together to create a short story documenting their imaginary journey. To reach each stop along the board, the whole group must work together and learn from their dialogue. Until they all agree on the next portion of the story, they cannot proceed.

Meshulam explains that the idea for the game originated in her belief that the discipline of design should be a tool, and not an end in itself.

"There are, for instance, only so many different kinds of teapots that are necessary in the world," she says. "I think design should be used as a means to a greater end." She chose the form of a game because whilst the language of design can often be elitist - appealing only to those schooled in the subject - the format of a game is something that everyone can understand.

"From there, I began to think about how a person can heal their emotional problems or inner conflict through using guided imagery," continues Meshulam, who has guided multi-cultural groups - including mixed groups of Muslims and Jews - through dozens of successful game sessions, "and how then perhaps a group could do the same through an imaginary journey in the context of a game. I call it 'design therapy'," she adds with a smile.

Along with this, I wanted to create a platform that would be a new way for people to get to know each other, to create a vision together, to brainstorm, to synchronize," she says.

Growing up in Jerusalem, says Meshulam, has clearly illustrated to her the need for positive communication between, and within, different cultures.

At first, Meshulam tried out "Master Peace" by guiding two very different test groups through gaming sessions: the first, a group of young Moroccan and Somalian immigrants at a youth centre in southern Holland; the second, a collection of wealthy, highly-educated fellow design students from across the globe. Both sessions, recalls Meshulam, worked extremely well, and in each case points of contact were created between individuals that were not there previously.

A game, she says, is almost always a metaphor for some aspect of society.

"Every game stands for something, Monopoly stands for capitalism; chess stands for war. I wanted to create something that stands for cooperation. For what we need now."

So far, the many people who have been guided by Meshulam through the game have found it an enlightening experience. Since it is a rather unconventional gaming concept for many players to master - for example, the game's ceramic pieces, each inscribed with a different symbol, are open to personal interpretation, and there are no final winners or losers - she has found that initially guiding players through the game increases its effectiveness.

Meshulam is aiming at players between roughly 20 and 60 years old, who have, she says, already developed a strong sense of identity and carry emotional 'luggage,' but are still open to learning from others. It is also better played by groups within which there is a range of differing cultural backgrounds. She prefers groups of up to nine players, and the creation of a story within the game takes roughly two hours to complete.

Although all this may seem a peculiar idea at first, it begins to make perfect sense when sitting in front of a "Master Peace" board at Meshulam's serene central Jerusalem home, accompanied by her compelling explanation.

After taking first place in the UNESCO competition, which had over 700 entrants this year, Meshulam will be taking the game to New York City shortly, to demonstrate its effectiveness to American audiences. From September 6 to 28, the game will be shown at New York's Felissimo House, before moving on to UNESCO House in Paris, as part of UNESCO's travelling design exhibition.

The only group of people, thinks Meshulam, who are really unsuitable players for "Master Peace" are "extremists" of all kinds.

"I want to help people discover the interesting differences between each other," she says, "Usually these things divide, but in this case, the differences become good material for the game and for the story of a journey that the players create. But I'm not interested in getting extremists to play the game, because there are already enough differences even between people with the same ideals and goals."

Despite her success and her game's good recognition - which has already attracted the attention of Israeli psychologists, to put to use in group sessions - Meshulam remains realistic about what she hopes "Master Peace" will achieve. "I don't think it will change the world," she says simply. "But personally, I think this is better than aiming at big missions. For me, it's all about the details."

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* Amelia Thomas is a writer for the Middle East Times.

Source: Middle East Times, September 5, 2005.

Visit the Middle East Times Online: www.metimes.com

Distributed by the Common Ground News Service.

Copyright permission has been obtained for this article.


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