Role Playing in Learning

从角色扮演中学习

Jesse Covner Jesse has had a life long passion for role-playing and has served as the CEO for international gaming company EOS-SAMA since 2010. EOS-SAMA makes roll-playing games, board-games, and training simulation games. Before founding and leading EOS-SAMA Jesse worked in the booming tech industry in Silicon Valley and later the management consulting field in China.

Copyright © Sino Associates & Jesse Covner 2012-2022. All Rights Reserved.

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This article explores some of the issues with using role-playing and role-playing games as learning tools in China, as well as provide some useful techniques to make role-playing more effective.

What is Role-Playing? It is the practice of assuming an identity, which is not your own, like in improvisational acting, within the context of a training exercise, coaching session, or recreational game.

When do we role-play? You’ve probably been role-playing since you were a child and you first played a game of cops and robbers using your imagination. As adults some people Role-play for enjoyment, as when they play “Role Playing Games” (RPG).

In the work environment, role-playing can be used as practice in preparing for specific tasks, such as a when a sales-woman role-plays possible client interactions with a colleague who plays the part of a customer. Role-playing can also be used as a very effective tool to facilitate learning and development in a variety of skill categories. In brief it can be a Role-playing can be an impactful, interactive, social learning technique.

How do we use role-playing in learning?

这篇文章将探索一些关于在中国使用角色扮演游戏作为学习工具的问题，同时还会提供一些让角色扮演更有成效的实用技巧。

“It is the practice of assuming an identity, which is not your own, like in improvisational acting, within the context of a training exercise, coaching session, or recreational game它是在培训、辅导练习或休闲游戏的情境中，呈现的一种非自我身份的实践，像是在即兴表演”

什么是角色扮演？它是在培训、辅导练习或休闲游戏的情境中，呈现的一种非自我身份的实践，像是在即兴表演。

我们什么时候进行角色扮演？从小你可能就已经试过扮演某些角色，用想象力玩过警察抓小偷的游戏。当某些成年人在玩角色扮演游戏的时候，扮演角色是为了享受乐趣。

在工作环境中，角色扮演可被用作为特定任务的事前准备练习，例如销售人员会让同事扮演顾客，从而练习如何与顾客沟通交流。角色扮演还

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As a learning tool, it requires participants to “learn by doing;” it is an experiential technique that puts participants within an interactive role and has several advantages:

Fun

Role-playing produces interesting and exciting interactions between participants, thus increasing the energy level of the participants

Experiential

O f t e n r o l e - p l a y i n g r e q u i r e s t h e participants to put themselves within a real-world “frame” or story-setting in which they must use there knowledge, skills, and critical thinking abilities to solve problems, thus making the results more relevant to the participants.

Social

Most role-playing involves interactions b e t w e e n m u l t i p l e p l aye rs . T h e s e interact ions provide opportunit ies for emotional involvement within the training, which increases relevance and memory retention.

Empathy

Role-playing requires learners to take

可以作为一种促进学习和提高多种技能的非常有效的工具。简而言之，角色扮演是一种有效的、互动的、社会性的学习技巧。

我们怎么把角色扮演运用到学习中？作为一项学习工具，它要求参与者“从操作中学习”，让参与者在一个互动的环境里体验角色。这种体验型技巧 具有若干优势：

好玩

角色扮演能让参与者之间产生有趣且兴奋的互动，从而提高参与者的活力。

体验性

角色扮演往往要求参与者把自己放进一个真实世界的“框架”或设定的故事情境中，通过利用自身的知识、技能和批判性思考能力来解决问题，因此能让结果与参与者更相关。

社交性

大多数角色扮演需要多个扮演者的互动。这些互动能让参与者亲身体会相关情感，进而增强关联性和记忆。

移情性

角色扮演需要学员担任一个角

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on a role... that means take on and “play” a different identity. This can help participants learn how to see issues from different angles, thus encouraging understanding and awareness of the feelings, beliefs, and logic structures of others.

Role-playing can be used for many different types of learning points. High school teachers have used it to explain the effects of slavery in the United States before the Civil War. History teachers have used role-playing to simulate the challenges faced by historical figures. Sales managers in much of the world use role-playing to teach awareness of the customer’s needs. English-as-Second-Language teachers often use role-playing to give students practice at real-life application of language studies. Coaches and Managers use role-playing to better prepare their coachee to handle difficult interactions.

Although role-playing is often used within learning events and programs throughout China, many role-playing facilitators encounter several implementat ion problems, of which some are specific to Chinese culture. Problems may include the following:

色。这意味着承担和“演绎”一个不一样的身份。这能帮助参与者学习如何从不同的角度看待问题，从而促进他对其他人的感受、信念和逻辑结构的理解和认知。

角色扮演可以用来学习许多不同类型的知识。高中老师可以用它来解释在南北战争前，农奴制对美国的影响。历史老师可以用它来模拟历史人物所面对的挑战。大多数销售经理会用它来传授对顾客需求的理解。教英语的外语老师经常用角色扮演来让学生在模拟真实生活的情境下练习使用英语。教练和管理人员会用角色扮演这种方式来帮助他们的学员或下属学习如何处理人际互动方面的挑战。

“take on and ‘play’ a different identity. This can help participants learn how to see issues from different angles, thus encouraging understanding and awareness of the feelings, beliefs, and logic structures of others承担和‘演绎’一个不一样的身份。这能帮助参与者学习如何从不同的角度看待问题，从而促进他对其他人的感受、信念和逻辑结构的理解和认知”

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Fear of acting/public performance

Role-playing requires participants attempt to see things from another person›s point of view, which is difficult for some people. This kind of “acting” does not come naturally to many people perhaps even most people. To risk a generalization, many Chinese employees have little experience with acting as a part of their formal education background.

Getting participants to role-play involves encouraging the participants to expand beyond their comfort zones - to “break the box”, which is challenging for both participant and facilitator.

Disassociation and narration

We o f t e n f i n d C h i n e s e r o l e - p l a y participants who do not have experience with role-play ing wi l l d isassociate themselves from the role they play, often by narrating actions rather than playing the role.

For example, during a simulated coaching session with an employee, the role-playing manager should say something like; “Hi Mr. Wang.... let’s talk about your performance. What accomplishment do you feel most proud of from last

在中国，虽然角色扮演被广泛地使用在学习活动和培训项目当中，但许多角色扮演引导师经常会在执行时遇到难题，以下是一些常见的问题：

对公开表演的恐惧

角色扮演要求参与者尝试用他人的身份看待事情，但对某些人来说，这是比较困难的。因为，对于许多人，甚至可能是大多数人来说，难以自然地进行这种“表演”。冒着以偏概全的风险来说，许多员工所经历的中国正式教育里并不包含表演。

为了让参与者扮演角色，培训师需要鼓励他们勇敢闯出他们的舒适区，甚至要让他们打破陈规，这对参与者和培训师都是一项挑战。

脱离角色与表述

我们经常发现那些没有角色扮演经验的中国参与者往往是在表述其行为，而不是扮演其角色，这样常让他们无法进入角色。

比如说，在一个模拟的辅导过程中，扮演管理者的人本可以这样说：“王先生你好……现在我们来谈谈你的工作表现吧。自上一个季度结束以来，有没有哪些地方你觉得你做得特别好？”然而，该名扮演者却这么说：

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quarter?”. But instead, the manager will say; “I will ask the employee to sit down. Then I will ask him to talk about what he did last year”. Disassociation does not diminish the planning and thought that went into the role-play, but it does diminish the experiential and emotional benefits of the exercise.

Inadequate inferenceand extrapolation

When role-playing real-life situations, participants often fail to contemplate the results of their role-played actions. They fail to apply appropriate common sense and/or logic skills because they regard the role-play simulation as “not real”, and hence, fail to apply real-world diligence and/or expectations.

There are many ways to deal-with and ameliorate these problems. Below are some suggestions:

Colorful and detailed prepared roles

The more “frame” the participant has, the easier it is to visualize the role he/she should play. Giving a detailed description of a character’s motivations - even if many of the motivations are not relevant to the game-play or learning points -

“我会叫那个员工坐下，然后我会让他谈谈上一年他做了些什么。”脱离角色虽然并不会减少扮演者对角色的计划和思考，但却会减少表演中的体验和情感的效益。

不充分的推敲

当扮演着现实生活中的情景，参与者经常无法深思他们角色行为的结果。因为他们觉得这个模拟表演是“不真实的”，所以他们无法应用合适的常识或逻辑能力，进而无法运用真实生活中的勤奋和期待。

以下是一些处理和改善以上问题的方法：

富有色彩的和详细准备的角色

有越多的画面和框架，参与者越容易把所要演的角色形象化。给参与者提供详细的角色动机描述——即使很多动机与游戏或学习目标并不相关——这将帮助参与者把角色展现出来。此外，创造一些华丽的或突出的角色性格能为如何演好这个角色提供明显的提示。这将会给参与者带来更多的乐趣。

表现管理技巧

大多数参与者的工作就是要被测

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helps the participants act-out the part. Furthermore, creating flamboyant or outstanding character traits gives obvious clues as to how the character should be played. This will make role-playing more fun for the participants.

Performance management techniques

Most participants already work in an environment where their work output is measured and evaluated. Hence, by incorporating performance measurement systems, such as competitive game elements and point-systems, the role-play facilitator can focus the participants’ attention on the quality of their role play. Role-play acting judging (and rewards) can be used to increase the quality of acting, and thus increase the quality of participant involvement. Let participants know their logic and reasoning will be assessed and debriefed at the end of the role-play session.

“Adversaries” and “Non-Player Character”

When possible, give some participants “adversary ” roles. The non-player character (NPC) - is a participant who plays a role designed to impede the progress of

量和评估的。因此，通过引入表现评价系统，例如竞争比赛的元素和计分机制，角色扮演引导师能让参与者集中精力关注他们角色扮演的质量。角色扮演评价（和奖励）可以用来提高表演的质量，从而提高参与者的投入程度。让参与者知道在角色扮演的结束部分，他们的逻辑推理将需要被评估和汇报。

“对手”和“非玩家角色”

当有机会，让部分参与者扮演“敌对”的角色。而非玩家角色是一种专门为阻碍其他玩家进度而设计的角色，它能引发一些创造性的压力并增加参与者的情感投入。

“incorporating performance measurement systems, such as competitive game elements and point systems, the role-play facilitator can focus the participants’ attention on the quality of their role play引入表现评价系统，例如竞争比赛的元素和计分机制，角色扮演引导师能让参与者集中精力关注他们角色扮演的质量”

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the other players, which causes creative tension and increasing player emotional involvement.

Mid-activity debriefs

Often it is helpful to conduct activity debriefs several times before the entire role-play simulation is completed. These debrief “breaks” can be used to re-focus the participants on their goals and the roles they play.

Role-playing can be a great experiential tool for high-impact learning activities as well as everyday coaching. But in order to get the most out of a role-playing learning activity, the facilitator must understand the potential difficulties in using these techniques, especially in China. By using a combination of competitive game elements, vivid fun roles, in-simulation adversaries, and frequent debriefs, a facilitator can use role playing techniques to create high-impact learning experiences for the Chinese participants.

活动中期回顾

在模拟角色扮演结束之前，进行几次活动回顾往往是有帮助的。这些回顾反思的中期休息机会能帮助参与者重新关注他们的目标和所扮演的角色。

对于高冲击力的学习活动和日常辅导，角色扮演是一种很好的体验型工具。但是为了让角色扮演学习活动的效益最大化，尤其在中国，辅导员必须明白使用这些技巧可能带来的困难。通过使用竞争比赛元素、鲜明有趣的角色，模拟对手和多次回顾的组合方法，培训师能通过这些工具为中国学员创造一个高效的学习体验。

“using a combination of competitive game elements, vivid fun roles, in-simulation adversaries, and frequent debriefs使用竞争比赛元素、鲜明有趣的角色，模拟对手和多次回顾的组合方法”

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