Last week, we got all arts and craftsy and transferred our revisions to Dukeopoly to a new template, in preparation for our first Game Day test run today. We matched the new “sites” on the board with revised property cards as well as new “Chance” and “Community Chest” cards. All reflect how students live Duke now (as opposed to when Dukeopoly was last designed, at least 15 or more years ago). As it happens, Duke was abuzz with news of yet another offensive party, this time “Asia Prime.” So that immediately made it into the card stack, a commandement to proceed to Academic Probation without passing “Go” or collecting $200.
And that was before news of the “Pedophiles and Juveniles” party hit the Duke Chronicle (otherwise known as “Creepy Guys and Cutie Pies,” hosted by Sigma Nu) and Jezebel.
One of the things we discussed as we collated cards and filled in game spaces was that even an “insider’s” game like the one we are producing can be made even more “insidery,” with the different communities that often do not overlap on Campus. While Shooters is considered a “deep Duke” hangout, many students have never gone (though all have heard the tales). Some students actively go beyond the invisible boundaries that most students observe.
Alix, for example, has worked as an EMT and regularly does ride-alongs in the city to keep her skills fresh. Although the national media certainly has a stereotypical Duke student in mind, in fact the student body has changed dramatically over the past two years. As Jezebel noted in its coverage of the Sigma Nu party, “Duke undergraduates were drawn to racist and sexist themed parties because the concept of breaking social rules intrigues kids who are book-smart but haven’t experienced real struggles; i.e., your stereotypical Duke student.”
These stereotypes are just what makes creating a Duke-Durham version of Monopoly so challenging. Durhamites certainly have preconceived notions about Blue Devils; and students, for the most part, fear Durham, refusing to go beyond the metaphorical outpost that is Shooters (even the quite tame hipster conclave of FullSteam and Motorco is too far for most undergrads). According to the latest available statistics (2008), 44 percent of the undergraduate student body is non-white (and I think that number has risen in the four years since). Many more students than in previous years are coming from outside the United States or are the first in their families to go to college. That’s certainly not the perception most people, even Durhamites, have of the campus. And many of these students have no interest in the “old-style” Duke of race and class-themed “parties” (partial list here.)
At the same time, Dukies write off whole swaths of Durham as dangerous or “sketchy.” By the time they are seniors, many have not been downtown, a mere five blocks away from East Campus. When I take students on a civil rights tour, we always meet in front of the Carolina Theater, once a segregated space. Many seniors need detailed directions, since they have never been further east than — you got it, Shooters.
Can a game help tear down some of these walls? Could play allow us to see one another more clearly — and with less objectification? The students in this class are now embarking on three research projects that will both make these walls more visible and contribute to a new Duke-Durhamopoly that, we hope, may help make passageways… stay tuned.
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dmg30 Feb 13 , 2013 at 6:48 am /
At the Game Night we realized that including the “Asia Prime” party would be outdated in a few years since future Duke students wouldn’t recognize that party. Rather, each incoming class will probably have a unique scandal or two during their time in college. We’ll need to change this Contingency card to keep it relevant to our revised Dukeopoly. Speaking of scandals…what do Durhamites think of Duke’s party culture? We hear what the nation’s opinion(s) are through op-eds and blogs, but do we ever go directly ask the Durham community if they believe the stereotypes of the typical Duke student or who they believe we are? And vice versa. Most Duke students don’t engage with locals, but if they did, what would they think of Durham’s history and past and current struggles? How much will we be able to bridge the divide between Durhamites and Dukies through our game. A Monopoly-style game will not be enough to express the complexities of this divide.
alixheyes Feb 15 , 2013 at 2:40 am /
We talked about how bing and “insider” made people bond with the game. How will that change when we create a Durham game? Should the possibility of losing student interest in the game through a lack of “inside” knowledge of Durham be a consideration when deciding how much of the game will be about Durham and how much about student life? I ask because of the previously mentioned lack of overlap. Should we increase the Duke-related material to gain student interest? Or should the ratio of of the game be equal to that of the town itself, and be used instead as a teaching tool for those who still choose to play? In a Durham game would we, instead of having chance and community chest, have health care cards, housing cards, daily life cards, education cards, etc that will further people’s knowledge of how Durham residents, student or permanent, experience Durham?