Silicon Safari
Jennifer Lin, Anna Mistele, Simran Tandon, Mayshu Zhan
Game Overview
Players roll for stats (generational wealth, what kind of startup are you running, what is your social status in the industry). Then they talk to a variety of VCs who have different preferences—there is a VC who is very generous and just wants to fund interesting things, a VC who is a clout-chaser and will fund anything with social media hype, a VC who is meticulous about data and research, etc. Different VCs will give you different amounts of money (or no money) and reputation.
Playtest Notes
Player’s starting stats
From a poor family, social impact company for underfunded children, known in the industry
- More like a official interview
- Give choices–money or talking to others
Feedback
- The amount of money? Goals?
- Skills of investors?
- Character design loved
- Customized
- More details of the character sheet–what traits are needed for players’ argument for persuasion
- Categories
- Information about the VCs before the game?
- Important for knowing the person for polishing argument
- VPs files have more details
- Feedback from Amy: Relationship management system? Resources to build relationships?
- Different rounds for changes
- Map out the systems
- More money, more values, more reputations, more interests
- What are the things we want to narrow down upon?
Questions
- Do we want it to be like speed dating 1v1 or roundtables?
Future Directions
We have two future directions.
Modeling startup/VC relationship management
Managing relationships. To explore this further, we would need to interview startup founders (or people who have gone through the VC process) and model social capital and relationship management.
Modeling dating
You are an angel and you are dating men, fixing them, and then releasing them back into the dating pool. The other option is actually a model of dating, where you gain a loneliness point every turn you are not dating someone and once you accumulate five loneliness points you have to start dating the next person that comes along. (And you can of course lower your loneliness points in other ways.) We can then model healthy dating strategies, red flags, and supporting one’s friends by swapping tips and lending them your own guidance/experience!
