Merchants is a serious game that is set in 15th Century Venice. It is a learning experience that is enacted through a serious game that recreates six cases of negotiations with different characteristics in which students apply their skills to negotiate, convince and argue with peers for whist resolving conflicts. The student plays the role of Carlo Vecchio, a young merchant whose mission is to become the greatest merchant of the age, while being mentored by Leonardo da Vinci or Machiavelli.
Students apply strategies and techniques for negotiation and conflict resolution while they are engaged in adventures that allow them to explore, inquire and learn how to interact in commercial situations. In particular the game encourages students to:
1. Build trust by playing 6 challenging real-life negotiation cases.
2. Understand the importance of knowing the interests of the other party.
3. Develop techniques to increase your bargaining power and forge lasting and successful partnerships.
4. Discover the keys to preparing and presenting a proposal effectively.
5. Make use of tools to increase the benefits of an agreement.
The game is based on intertwining different in-game based cases or scenarios encompassing Understanding how to resolve a conflict with a client; Information and Interest in terms of developing strategies for obtaining critical information from competitors; flexibility as to secure a business loan; Criteria and Procedures to create a joint venture and how to use variables for managing interests; Communications between sovereign nations and features for communicating and presenting business proposals.