RUPES role-play game (RPG)

The Rewarding Upland Poor for Environmental Services (RUPES) project developed a role-play game(RPG) that simulated the options for land-use changes for villages in a tropical forest margin. Thegame resembles the decision-making process gone through by villagers interacting with externalagents. The agents offer opportunities for further logging and conversion of forests to monoculturetree plantations or incentives to protect environmental services. The game shows the complexity ofnegotiations under time pressure, with limited information about what the ‘rules of the game’ imply.Primarily meant as a learning tool for those playing, observing and analyzing the game, the resultscan also be compared between the results achieved in multiple replications of the game.