The Duke Climate Simulation Game is meant to model the interactions between business, government, civil society, and academia and raise visibility for alternative measures of well-being besides GDP. The team is looking into future avenues of application like in Durham Public Schools or at Duke University. 

On this team, I was part of the game mechanics team. The goal of this game is wide in scope, so being intentional with the mechanics was of the utmost importance. I didn’t want to overcomplicate the game or oversimplify the representation of the world. Following this goal, I proposed unique solutions — like using Jenga to model environmental health (with the Jenga blocks representing species). I also created a social mechanic of voting representatives for the country conventions. These mechanics made the game more fun while expanding the breadth of the model. 

This team was particularly diverse and interesting, bringing together people from different schools, majors, and grades. I was able to work with Econ, PubPol, and Nicholas School of the Environment students, who I don’t normally get to work with. This was my first experience creating a game outside of the classroom, and it helped me deepen my interest in game development. 

At the end of the semester, I was elected to lead the panel following the Duke Climate Summit. This demonstrates my ability to adapt and quickly familiarize myself with unfamiliar concepts. Even though I was a freshmen and not as well-versed in Econ and Public Policy as some of my team members, they thought I would be the best person to improv questions as the conversation developed to get the most interesting answers.