Hi folks,
Longtime readers will recall a series of posts leading up to the 2016 election in which TOA ‘debated’ the Massachusetts ballot questions (editor's note: what a farce that was). Those debates were conducted in a fairly standard debate format: pose a question, hear some arguments, and allow outsiders to arbitrarily determine who ‘won’ the debate.
Surely, there is a better way?
I came up with a few ideas...
1. Play a cooperative game
A board game like Pandemic or a physical environment challenge like Escape The Room would require the opponents to work together in the name of reaching a well-defined goal. Viewers could use game performance to understand a candidate’s ability to translate objectives into action, perform under pressure, and cooperate with political opponents.
This strikes me as a good alternative in particular for one-on-one candidate debates.
2. Play a competitive game
Would there be a better way to assess a candidate’s governing ability than having them go head-to-head in a strategy board game like Settlers of Catan? Or how about the next Mayoral race including a night when the candidates all take over a fascimile of Boston in SimCity2000 and having them play a few rounds of the venerated city building simulator?
I don’t like this option as much as #1 but admit it has higher entertainment value. That it could work for any number of candidates is also a plus.
3. The Blender
Some games combine options #1 and #2. Summer campfire favorite Mafia is a good bet as is the card game Secret Hitler. In these games, viewers would know the objectives each candidate was working on and could see how the candidates got their agenda accomplished while competing against hostile, lying opponents...
4. A twist on the classic…
This idea is more of a tweak than an alternative – at the end of the debate, I would require the participants to summarize their opponent’s views. Whoever did the best job would be declared the winner.
This would not be a good option for a small number of participants. But I think a form of the idea would benefit all forms of debate. I’ve always found it easier to agree with someone I disagreed with if the other person obviously understood my position before reaching an opposing conclusion.
