🚀👽 Alien Diplomats 👽🚀

a mini EduLARP about emotions, healthy communication, and galactic diplomacy

Written in draft form by Chella Quint, Cindy Reyes, Courtney Bramstedt, Heather Williams, and Moss Bosch
as part of the Clitical Hits game jam hosted by Hazel Dixon and Jon Lutz from August 20th-21st, 2022.

Summary:
Modular icebreaker/communication and boundary skills lesson opener activity with built-in
debrief time, for use in small sessions spread throughout a larger lesson series on healthy
relationship skills.

Recommended time limit per session: 15 minutes

Recommended number of participants:

12 middle school age participants and 2 adult facilitators.

Learning Objective and Outcome:

● Supporting healthy communication practices including expressing emotions and
listening to others’ emotions. In future rounds past the purview of this initial draft, we
would also like to include elements that focus on how to communicate boundaries
around physical touch, social space, and emotions.
● Providing a self-assessment/group snapsnot at three points in the term (if divided into
short activities across a longer unit of sex/relationship education work).

Core Activity:
Participants will negotiate ways to communicate with each other using different limited
parameters. Different phases of the game get different limited frames around what kinds of
communication skills are available.

Overall Game Prompt (to read out):

You are an alien diplomat making your way to an important Intergalactic Conference. You are
sharing a small ship with an alien diplomat from another planet (your partner), but you all don’t
share a common language. Your ship is fueled by emotions. On your travels to the Intergalactic
Conference, your ship and alien communication translator have both broken down, and you
must work together with your partner to fix your ship while navigating these communication
challenges. Use your communication style prompt to relay your message, and work together
with your partner to fix your ship!
 Before Round 1:
● Facilitators and students: establish brief group agreements around safety and respect -
you’re about to embark on a potentially silly and/or stressful icebreaker activity together,
and it’s important to be kind and patient with each other.
● Students: Name your planet! (Facilitators can give reminders of group agreements to
ensure planet names remain respectful toward others.)
● Facilitators: Share and ask them to choose, or assign each student a random trait from
the communication styles chart below.

Facilitator reads out: You’re sharing a ship with another diplomat from a different planet.
Introduce yourself and the name of your planet using your new communication style. (30
seconds)

Communication styles chart (choose one from either column):

Mostly verbal communication traits Mostly non verbal communication traits

Starting with the letter “A,” each sentence has Always emote with high enthusiasm
to start with the next letter of the alphabet.
Example: “Aren’t we going to be late?” “But,
we have to fix the ship.”

Cannot use a common word like “the” Communicate with upper body movements only

Uptalk/every sentence ends like a question? Use only a specific animal sound (like meowing)

Make sentences as long as possible (10+ Do a dance move for each sentence you
words) speak/sign

Use very brief sentences (2-3 words) No facial expressions when you speak/sign

Speak as though you are in ALL CAPS Only facial expressions, no speech or signing
(without full on screaming)

Emotions Chart:

Round 1 Confusion Fear Anger Impatience

Round 2 Pride Confidence Nerves Excitement

Round 3 Joy Happiness Love Enthusiasm

Round 1: Confusion, Fear, Anger, Impatience
● Prompt (facilitator reads out): Your ship broke down and you have to work with your
fellow diplomat to fix it! You can fix your ship by understanding what emotion your
partner is feeling/sharing with you. Pick an emotion from the Round 1 Emotions Chart,
or fill in your own, and communicate those feelings to your partner. (1 minute)
○ FACILITATOR NOTE: If a pair of students encounter difficulties in
communication, encourage them to seek help - specifically asking for a
facilitator to act as a “local space mechanic” who can steer the conversation on
a better route if they are feeling seriously stuck.
○ The goal is making an earnest attempt to communicate/approach the activity
together, not “winning” in a single simple way.

Round 2: Pride, Confidence, Nerves, Excitement

● Prompt (facilitator reads out): You get the ship working and are on your way! Pick
from the Round 2 Emotions Chart, or fill in your own, and communicate those feelings
to your partner. (1 minute)

Round 3: Joy, Happiness, Love, Enthusiasm

● Prompt (facilitator reads out): You’re arriving at the conference. Now you get to
experience a wonderful intergalactic meeting of countless accomplished alien
diplomats! Pick from the Round 3 Emotions Chart, or fill in your own, and communicate
those feelings to your partner. (1 minute)

Debrief Questions (5-10 minutes):

● What?
○ What was this experience like for you?
○ What did it feel like to communicate with your fellow alien?
○ What was enjoyable for you? What was challenging for you?
● So What?
○ Have you ever felt similar to your character during this activity?
○ Have you ever felt different from your character during this activity?
● Now What?
○ Each of us has our own unique communication style. How do our individual
communication styles influence the messages we share?
Brief outline of ideas for future 15 minute sessions

Day 2
Rounds that tell this story, with opportunities to play new communication styles and emotions.
- Arrive at keynote session, talk about your planet to a larger group (4 or 6)- mention three
facts - favorite season, favorite food, favorite sport?

Debrief to include: What was different about speaking to a larger group?

Day 3
Rounds that tell this story, with opportunities to play new communication styles and emotions.
- You are trying to agree to sign a treaty as the whole group (12 players) - there are
parameters you need to stay within using the previous prompts from earlier days

Debrief to include: Did your communication get easier? How did you feel while trying to
communicate with the whole group? How did you feel overall, as a character and a player?

Playtester Feedback (from the Clitical Hits game jam, August 21st 2022)

What worked about this game?

The setting! Easy to set up very swiftly and move forward (though also remember that these
players are adults with some gameplay experience). Simplicity of setup, fun and silly energy
were good. Player agency around planet names, emotions, and communication styles were a
positive element.

What was confusing?

The silliness was relaxing and happy but did make one player feel like he wasn’t sure there’d
be a deep takeaway from the game. Players whose communication styles let them speak aloud
weren’t sure if they were allowed to directly state how they were feeling since other players had
stricter limits. Similarly, a player who used animal sounds also ended up using a lot of body
language and wasn’t sure if that was allowed. Maybe a part of the debrief could be asking
players what communication tools they used that weren’t part of their official communication
style.

What do you think are the learning outcomes for this game? What will learners learn from
this game?
Importance of clear communication and techniques to use for that. Improv skills and ways to
be creative in a partnered activity. Practice actively listening and checking in with your partner
for understanding of what you’re trying to communicate. Back and forth check-ins were a
common theme in the duos.