There is no so-called right choice in life as each option has its pros and cons. How can we find the best choice for Li Zhihui?

On October 31, Esther Hall invited 20 students from Shantou University to play a board game on gender discrimination - “Li Zhihui’s Survival Game”.

No one is absent, so the survival game is getting started!

Preparation: The game requires six players, with one staff member playing Li Zhihui while the invited participants act as her father, mother, younger brother, male friend and female friend in a random way.

They each represent a certain “attribute” of the protagonist, which are respectively self-esteem, social competence, pressure, submissiveness and sensitivity. That is, the mother wants the protagonist to live with dignity; the father hopes her adapt to society; the brother wishes her to live pleasantly; the male friend expects her to be compliant; the female friend anticipates her to keep relaxed.

This a role-playing game, so when the players get their role cards, they have to put themselves into the role’s shoes and make choice.

Now the game begins!

The staff member playing Li Zhihui draws question cards in the order of juvenile, youth, middle age and old age on the map of life, and asks other players to render their suggestions on the appropriate choice. After intense discussion and voting among players, Li Zhihui made her choice according to the suggestions. Keeping Zhihui alive is the game’s sole objective.

Attribute points will be added or deducted based on the choices. When Zhihui’s pressure value adds up to 100, or any one of the other attributes of social competence self-esteem, sensitivity, and submissiveness gets 0, she dies and the game fails. If Li Zhihui managed to survive, the player with the most attribute points at the end of the game wins.

Players hold different opinions while making choices. Those who make choices against their will cannot get over this even after the game finishes.

   “In the scenario of Li Zhihui being harassed by the delivery worker, we reach a consensus to tell her boyfriend. But what I want most is to report the case, because I think the platform exposed her private phone, which has to be taken seriously. This is a network information safety problem, and has nothing to do with her boyfriend.”

—— Xiao Yu 

Q: Li Zhihui’s husband dislikes and avoids Li Zhihui because she’s getting old and ugly. How does she deal with it?

   Every decision has its pros and cons, and what seems to be the right one may cause harm.

In this scenario, players decide to “learn more about cosmetics online” after a heated discussion. But one of the players says she really wants to choose the option of “asking money from husband to enhance appearance”. She says that “the option of ‘learning more about cosmetics online’ doesn’t seem confident at all when people just browsing information online but not actually buying. The reason why I want to choose that option is that, as one of the family members, the wife has a strong case to ask for some financial support, especially when the husband dislikes and avoids his wife!”

(After the game, the player writes down their thoughts about the game)

(Summary session, delivering speech)

LISTEN WHAT SHE SAYS

According to Guo Shuyan, “People might still feel sorry about their life even if they live safe and sound. If people are not allowed to be themselves and speak for themselves, they are nothing else but silent lambs. I hardly think that this is a meaningful life. Just as Kitano Takeshi says, live a passionate life!”

According to Xiaoyu, “Female could face many visible or invisible difficulties in a lifetime. Because of the feudal thought of preferring sons to daughters, my parents almost decided to have an abortion when they know the gender of the fetus. But I am now so excellent that my parents are proud of me!”

According to Yang Minghui, “I choose to follow my inner voice at the very first beginning, which is to maintain the protagonist’s self-esteem. However, when my choices fail the protagonist again and again, I make some compromise on some issues. The background of this game is too rough for Li Zhihui. When we keep the option of self-esteem, the attribute points of sensitivity fall sharply!”

Some male participants express their thoughts after the game, “Gender discrimination permeating in our life. The lingering social stereotype is hindering the process of gender equality.”

We want people, male or female, who play this game to get a feel for the same dilemmas that women face in their everyday lives. This is the sophisticated part of the game.

“Even if a small number of people start to think about sexism because of my game, I think I’ve achieve my goal”, according to the game designer. 

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