World Domination
February 11, 2010 By: Alan CameronWe have entered rehearsals for world domination. Yes, that's right. World domination. In the GNSS sense. Which system will attain and maintain global leadership? Which industry will garner greatest profit? Which user community will enjoy most capability?
Does it matter? Or are we all in this together, for mutual benefit?
Let's find out.
The Grand Game of GNSS will be played by a select audience at GPS World's Leadership Dinner, taking place during the Institute of Navigation's GNSS Conference in Portland, Oregon, in September. Last month, we conducted a preliminary dry run of the game, to test its rules and metrics. I learned a lot, and the participants avowed enjoying themselves.
Here are the overall rules and game structure.
The Grand Game
GNSS Negotiation, Simulation, and Role-Playing
Parameters: Played by 12 teams (tables) of 10 players each, for four 15-minute quarters.
Object: To reach a quantified goal by the end the game, by striking deals with other teams to exchange various assets. Each team has a different goal (consisting of assets it must obtain from other teams) and a different set of assets that it can offer in trade.
Teams
GPS System Operator
U.S. GPS/GNSS Industry
U.S. User Community
Galileo System Operator
European GNSS Industry
European User Community
GLONASS System Operator
Russian GLONASS/GNSS Industry
Russian User Community
Compass System Operator
Chinese GNSS Industry
Chinese User Community
Assets: System operators have money. Industries have both satellites and receivers. Users have money.
Goals: System operators seek to launch satellites (purchased from industry) in order to generate an increasing number of signals (for users). Industries seek to profit from the sale of satellites and receivers; the more signals that operators can broadcast from space, the higher the value (price) of receivers they can offer. Users seek greater capability, measured by the number of advanced (multi-frequency) receivers they can accumulate over time.
Play:
• Each team starts with a baseline amount of assets, roughly corresponding to current status. Each team has a 20-year goal; each quarter corresponds to roughly five years.
• Each team (table) has a captain, who holds team assets, and is familiar with game rules. The captain has no authority over the team, however. Each team operates by whatever consensus they decide to adopt over dinner.
• If a team decides to offer a certain deal to another team, they send an emissary to that team (table). The second team may accept, reject, or keep an offer under consideration indefinitely, until the end of the quarter, when all unconsummated deals expire. The first team may withdraw an offer under consideration at any time. If an offer is accepted, chips/assets are exchanged immediately.
• A bell will ring to signal the end of each quarter. After tallying changes to date, the Gamemaster will distribute a fresh supply of assets to each team. Certain rule or parameter changes may also be announced.
• Assets must be exchanged with other teams in order to realize value. For example, a user community may exchange a certain amount of dollars with any industry, who in response provides certain number of receivers with varying signal-reception capabilities. A system operator must purchase new satellites from industry. And so on.
• If any three (or more) teams can put together a deal of some kind, the Gamemaster will award them a multiplier effect on their exchange, whereby each participant gets a bonus on the outcome. Thus, interoperability is encouraged.
• Any tripartite (or more) deal must first be authorized by the Gamemaster. Two-party transactions can take place at will; the transaction must be noted by each team’s recorder.
• Teams are not at all limited to deals within their own national sphere. Deals with teams from other spheres will be encouraged (somehow – to be defined).
• Each team has a recorder, who keeps a written record of all deals offered, whether accepted or rejected, and of assets exchanged. Recorder turns in transcript to the Gamemaster at game’s end.
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Personally, my biggest challenge is figuring out the right metric proportions of exchanged quantities to make the game work, yet still pose challenges for each group to overcome. The next Wide Awake blog will briefly recount the participants and the results of the first exercise in January.
Sleep was what I wanted, you know what I got. Wide awake, staying up late, wishing I was not.
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