A Risky Second Reflection

Around this time last week, before our Thursday class,  I had never heard of Risk, let alone the new and revised Diplomatic Risk. Although expected, the nonexistent tutorial videos led me feeling an immense sense of unease in not knowing how to properly prepare in playing a game. Not just any game, one that has been adapted and formed into a vessel for this cohort to gain real experience and knowledge to reference for future lectures. 

I was gratefully not alone in this uneasiness and all the global scholars turned to each other to help each other. The class joined together, some with experience playing Risk and some not, in deciphering the new rules of Diplomatic Risk. There was an immense sense of community. Instead of the normal pre-lecture preparation done individually, the unity in both excitement and anxiety for how to play the game joined the cohort together. 

Although we have only met in class three times, I can confidently say that the classes playing Diplomatic Risk will go down as my favorites. The structure, yet underlying liberty for anything to happen, is thrilling. Each team’s secret objectives may be implemented or not, and that uncertainty of what they are and how they will be fulfilled is what I am looking forward to. 

I am eager to see how the mindsets and roles we get into as we divided into allies and foes for diplomatic risk, will present themselves in various ways when addressing our first-hand lessons on the board game to world politics. Going back to our first class, World Politics is a safe and brave space, and playing Diplomatic Risk is going to challenge both of those ideas. It will be a safe place for teams to be brave and declare war on each other.