Here is the Pitch and Summary of a game I would like to see developed. I’ve written it as if it already exists!
Ring Me! is a game that can be played with any group of friends in any setting or “colleagues” in a workplace, and is best played in sessions of a couple of hours or sessions spanning several weeks. The message of the game is to gain understanding of the power of the roles we are willing to play in order to help others around us, and the dangers of being “trapped” in a role, which can stop us from evolving. Ring Me! works on the principle that everyone is the hero of their own story, and for a team or group to attain their potential, every member must recognize the heroic agendas’ of those around them, and be willing to adapt and change if the circumstances require it. This works for groups of friends or teams at work.
The rules of Ring Me are simple!
To win you must award five rings to others for doing missions, and receive five rings in return for missions performed from someone else. The game is won or lost by the entire group of participants playing. If after the allotted time period, every person playing has not fulfilled their individual objectives, the team scores points for the amount of rings exchanged and is encouraged to try again.
To play, you need 8 colored rings per participant, (these can be strings, rubber bands, etc…)
Each color represents a heroic role that you are going to ask someone to play: Critical Voice of Reason, Confident – Secret Keeper, Daring Adventurer, Fearless Explorer, Private Investigator, etc… for a particular problem you define. You give them the ring that corresponds and set up a meeting 30 minutes later (in a half day session) or a week later in a long session to judge the success.
The person must decide which finger they are going to put the ring on while performing the mission for you. They must tell you, so that you will know how they are going to work. You might give another person the same mission using a different ring, but they cannot use the same finger. A player may wear only one ring on a particular type of finger at a time (five maximum, whether or not one puts the ring on the left hand or right hand, blocks that finger).
The fingers correspond to a “god of inspiration” that is going to help the person perform the mission. Neptune is the thumb, Zeus the index, Dionysius the middle finger, Aphrodite the ring finger and Ares the pinky. This also guides them as to how they are to play the role during the mission. It also means that you can have only one person “using” a god for you, and at the same time, you can only be calling on a “god” for one person at a time when you are performing missions.
Here are how the gods are played.
Zeus (index finger) means with authority, or you have the authority and power of the person who gave you the ring. You act as if you were their representative and your concern is to assure that they succeed.
Dionysius (middle finger) is a party god, you go about your mission laid back and without stress, simply keeping in mind your promise, and seeing what the world offers to you. It is okay with Dionysius to “fail” at the mission. It means that the timing isn’t right.
Aphrodite (ring finger) is the goddess of love and beauty. When calling on this goddess you only think of the aesthetic criteria involved with the mission. You are going to let “beauty” inspire you.
Ares (pinky finger) is the god of war and testosterone. When inspired by this god you are going to trust your own personal instincts and let no one else sway what you “feel” is right.
Poseidon (thumb) is the god of the ocean, independence and you can basically do whatever you want. What’s important when following Poseidon is that you cannot be wrong and you automatically succeed in the mission from your point of view, therefor the person who gave you the mission must “accept” that you’ve succeeded.
Okay. If you got this far, you’re asking what types of missions are we talking about? This depends on the length of the session. In a month session, define real missions that are part of a person’s everyday life, give them clues and let them come up with them. They should be important and personal. “I need to organize a memorable dinner for my wife.” “I need to change my hairstyle and I don’t have a clue how to.” “I’ve got to organize a party for the office… etc…”
In a short session use a group goal that pertains to everyone present, but where every person has a function and responsibility. For companies this can be: we need to move to a bigger office, we need to decide where. One person is in charge of the location, someone else the functionality, someone else in charge of discovering how far we can move, someone else in charge of how we’re going to announce it to the clients, etc…
Other topics that work in sessions are: We need to rearrange the office, create a web site, get our friend here married!, etc…
Note from Kurt, back into reality space:
I’ve developed this idea but have never tested it. I’m planning on testing it with two groups of friends and a company in the upcoming months. I would love support from Gameful, and feedback from the community. I’ve already found rubber-band rings to use with the eight colors.
The roles and “gods” concept I already use to “coach” with when I consult for people. I simply ask them when there is a conflict, which heroic role do you think the person aggravating you is playing in their story. I then ask them which god is inspiring them? (I also give them the option of Hades, god of the underworld, perhaps we could put the ring in your pocket on this mission).
I want to make this game because I think it can help people understand that conflict and synergy are just two possible side-effects when any two people cross paths. Understanding and recognition are the two most powerful arms I’ve discovered for unlocking potential. Learning to give someone a ring is a way of telling them before they go to work for you that you are recognizing the quest you’re putting them on. They get the chance to decide how they are going to go about doing what you’re asking them, and you recognize how important it is to you and what degree of “inspiration” you’re counting on from the person you have asked to do the job.
This game works in real life, by the way. You can try it today. The next time you ask someone to do something for you, imagine that you are sending them on a heroic mission, as if you were a king or queen who really needed their help. Give them a ring, and say, “I’m ringing you. This is important for me and I appreciate your engagement. Go out their and fight for me. Be my daring adventurer!”
This is really fun when you’re asking someone to go and pick up your pizza for you. But you can also play the game when someone asks you to do something for them.
You can’t imagine how much responsibility there is in ordering a pizza for everyone for me. I’m always so afraid that the person will be disappointed when I get back because I got the wrong pizza, the one with pineapple and anchovies went over well, but I forgot to ask for barbecue rather than tomato sauce. Or, dang it, I took the free bottle of 7up rather than the Coca Zero. The person asks me if I have any water.
I don’t stress anymore, though. I just tell the person who asks a service of me what god is going to be inspiring me on this mission. Aphrodite for example! If the pizza isn’t beautiful I’m not going to even pick it up when I get there. I’ll get you the green pasta salad with black olives if it looks prettier. I then ask them if they are sure that they still want me to go for the pizza. If they say yes, then it becomes an adventure worthy of my individuality and potential! Even if they don’t like what I bring back, they can blame it on Aphrodite.
