Blog 6: Model UN and LARPING

LARP is an abbreviation for Live Action Role-Playing. It is an interactive activity in which viewers physically portray imaginary characters. The fundamental purpose of LARPing is to immerse players in a collaborative narrative experience, enabling them to discover and engage with a fictional world as their respective characters.

A Model United Nations (MUN) LARP (Live Action Role-Playing) would involve people acting as delegates from different nations and engaging in simulated diplomatic negotiations and debates. MUN is an educational simulation in which students often role-play as representatives to the United Nations and imitate UN committees. The usual structure of a MUN LARP could be modified to incorporate more immersive and interactive aspects (McIntosh,2001)

LARP ACTIVITY 1

For the LARP activity our group came up with two ideas. The first idea is ‘Youth Empowerment’ where the audience is divided into three groups (1) Start up/ local business owners (2) Corporate Employees (3) Labour workers. A scenario will be given to them on topics like employment crisis, inflation, wage problem, missing skill sets etc. Each of the three groups will be asked to come up with solutions or a plan of action to solve the crisis.

For example: The scenario is mass inflation going on in the country so what kind of financial plan can be implemented to control the crisis?

Some of the possible measures the groups may come up with are.

·       Cost Control - Examine your expenses and search for ways to cut costs without sacrificing the quality of your products or services. Investigate bulk purchasing, negotiate better terms with vendors, and optimise your supply chain.

·       Investing Smartly: Investing in technology or process changes that can boost efficiency and lower costs in the long run.

·       Keep an eye on customer behaviour: Analysing how inflation affects the purchasing habits of the clients. Some people may be prepared to pay a higher price for comfort or quality, whilst others may become more budget sensitive.

ACTIVITY 2

The second activity suggested was based on Model UN where the audience are expected to role play representing four countries namely India, Nigeria, Canada, and United Kingdom.  A scenario will be given to them where they will have to debate and come up with a resolution on which each country agrees upon. 

The scenario is based on SDG 8 which is ‘Decent work and economic growth’, UK and Canada are two developed countries where the international student intake is the highest and are currently facing employment issues along with immigration. Whereas Nigeria and India are two developing countries from where majority of the student population are leaving these countries to study and settle in abroad as the economic situation in the developing countries has not improved compared to the developed countries because the youth are not getting decent jobs which is the major reason for them to move to countries like the UK and Canada for education and job purposes. The participants representing each country must defend stating valuable points, in the end, considering each other’s point and they will have to come up with a plan or policy to deal with the employment issue in their own country.

The aim of both these activities is to come up with ideas and policy changing measures where everyone agrees with, is plausible and possible to implement by analysing through SDG 8 and targeting our audience – the international students.

 

 REFERENCES

LARPBook. (2019, December 30). Tools - LARPBook. https://larpbook.com/tools/

McIntosh, D. (2001). The Uses and Limits of the Model United Nations in an International Relations Classroom. International Studies Perspectives, 2, 269–280.