"Argument is war. We "attack" our opponents positions and "defend" our own. We "shoot down" opposing arguments. We say that claims are "defensible" or "indefensible." We talk of "winning" and "losing" arguments. In arguing we have "tactics" and "strategies." We are "on target" or "off target" in our criticisms. We "gain ground" or "lose ground." In fact, it is not simply that we talk about arguments like this, this is what we do. ...Consider a culture in which arguments are not conceptualized as verbal warfare, but as collaborative dances: participants are not opponents but partners and each counter-move is a balanced, graceful response. That would be a very different world."
"Agonistics is a game played by sending email messages to an online discussion. The goal of the game is to win points, move to the center of the circle, and get your words displayed on the left of the screen. Players are randomly assigned a face. Players win points by engaging in dialogue with other players. When a player wins points, the player’s face is moved towards the center. The faces of players in dialogue are moved together. When a player in a dialogue group posts a message that addresses a theme the group is discussing, the theme is shown and a sentence from the player’s message is highlighted at the top of the screen. Players who are not in dialogue with others never have their words highlighted." --Warren Sack
To play Agonistics click here
