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Game Information

TitleThe Tragedy of the Farmers (student-created game)
Presenter(s)Tom Fennewald, Brent Kievit-Kylar
SessionPlay the Past: Where Meaningful Play and Digital Humanities Meet to Talk
TimeThursday, October 18, 11:00a-12:00p
LocationGold A
FormatGame Exhibition
DescriptionThe Tragedy of the Farmers, or simply The Farmers, is a game that illustrates the tragedy of the commons in a fun-to-learn way. In the game, players harvest and plant resources. Players gain points when they harvest resources they value. The game strikes an balance between cooperation, competition and coordination.

In The Farmers, multiple groups of three players play simultaneously. But the goal in The Farmers might not be what you expect. To win, players are not trying to beat the other groups as a whole group, nor are players trying to beat other players within their own group. Rather, each player's goal is to score more points than the people in the other groups who are playing the same farmer role that that player is playing.

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