Content area
Full Text
What live-action role play has to teach students about history - and problem solving
"Continue to resist and we will crush you. Instead, surrender to us, and we will give you roads, villas and baths."
Claudius grins at you. It's your call. One of your villages must be sacrificed in order to complete the deal, but then peace will be restored throughout the land. What are you going to do in these circumstances?
This is the kind of choice that pupils might be faced with as part of a megagame, also known as "live-action role playing" (LARP) and related to ARGs (alternate reality games).
Unlike Mantle of the Expert, megagaming is not a method of teaching (although they both involve role play); it is an adult pursuit that can be adapted for the classroom.
Megagaming isn't overtly focussed on developing commercial or workplace skills, preferring instead to immerse its participants in historical, ethical or fantastical scenarios that require creative decision-making and problem-solving in something approximating real time.
Because it is an enthralling adult hobby in its own right, it can be...