A Conversation with Victor Prince Dickson, developer of Nigeria’s first registered card game (I)

A few months ago I attended an Association of Nigerian Authors meeting in Jos. One of the activities of the day was playing a conceptual card game, “Kommon Sense,” developed by one of the Jos ANA members Victor Prince Dickson. The professionally printed cards are each marked with a conceptual term like “justice” or “peace” […]

A few months ago I attended an Association of Nigerian Authors meeting in Jos. One of the activities of the day was playing a conceptual card game, “Kommon Sense,” developed by one of the Jos ANA members Victor Prince Dickson. The professionally printed cards are each marked with a conceptual term like “justice” or “peace” or ”war” and those playing the game have to explain how the card they put down relates to the last card played. It was a great game for writers, as it led us into philosophical discussions about life, world history, ethics, and the commonalities between religions. This week I talked with Victor Dickson about how he developed the game, which according to the Ministry of Trade and Investment is the first of its kind in Nigeria.
Could you introduce yourself and your game?
My name is Victor Prince Dickson. I am from Akwa Ibom State, but I got my B.A. in Theatre Arts at the University of Jos and I am based here. I work with an organization called El Spice Media Group. We are into publishing, film production, content design specifically for television, and then also game designs. One of our efforts, which I independently invented, is the Kommon Sense card game. For a very long time especially in the Nigerian environment we really have been dependent on programmes, be it software or hard copy coming from outside of Nigeria.
The game is simply an excuse to dialogue. Most times when we are faced with problems, we come at it with emotions. So, I thought of a way to see how I could boost our critical power. I decided to create a game, bringing education and fun together, and that is what gave birth to Kommon Sense card game.
How did you develop it?
Like 5 years back, I was thinking how you see young people sit down and discuss for almost two hours without really having a direction for what they are discussing. So I thought, imagine having a card game that could direct their discussion in terms of value orientations, things that have to do with kindness, things that have to do with justice, truth, understanding, love, and how it can relate  to each and every action we do
So I decided, fine, but first I have to go for a short course on the Net on game design and mechanics. Before now, I’ve designed a television game show, a more advanced format of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” with water elements, called Spelling Well. So based on that I had a little bit of idea on game design, but that was for TV. Now I wanted something hard copy that people could sit and play. So I went for that short course through the net and read everything that has to do with game mechanics, which means you have to take into cognizance the social elements of the environment, personality, belief system, ability to dialogue, personality, expressions, ability for people to really sit down and dialogue over an issue. So, I decided I need to create a set of cards that could influence the dialogue towards a particular focus. We all dialogue every day. So what the card does is create something that could help make the dialogue more interesting and more focused.
It has been a series of trials and research. We did the first one in 2011. That was the first model and prototype, but after doing some tests around the University of Jos and a few schools, we realized it wasn’t working. We had to go back, take advice, infuse more mechanics, more concern and then come back with it. After the second one, it still didn’t work. We had some few corrections here and there. We came back. Eventually at the end of the day we have something that is not really 100% perfect as it is, but at least give and take at a 90% rate, it is working now. That is what we are using.
You put down the card with a certain word on it, and then…
The person needs to connect the card on the table with their own card. They have a set of cards, so they choose the card that they feel is most convenient. For instance, if you have “Love,” and the person has a set of cards that carries “Trust,” and “Responsibility,” it is left for the person to choose which other card they believe best explains or has a follow up or link to the card. At the point that they set it down, all they need to do is explain to you, convincingly, so that you agree with it. It is supposed to be a form of conflict resolution and management. Whatever your divergent view is, at the point that you play these cards and discuss these values, you are supposed to come to the middle, to a compromise where both of you agree that this is the value of a subject.
So what if they can’t convince the person of the connection.
That is the technical part of it, and that is why we have a sub-theme, where we have little words written in very small letters. It is like a bail-out. Whenever you cannot agree, those little words under the major word will now serve as a link.
So, it basically directs the dialogue of people around to connect…
The basic challenge of the global community now has been the issue of peace, conflict, and misunderstanding. So the card brings you to the point of consistent dialogue, where you keep connecting one thing to another. You realize each thing has its own consequential order. Love is connected to trust. Trust is connected to kindness. Kindness is connected to justice. So you keep discussing how these connections are made and then possibly bring real life situations, model cases to explain how these things are all connected.
Sometimes, we’ve had experiences where people have to go back into history and bring certain events from the 1980s and relate it. The bottom line is that everything there is tied to human values, so you can bring anything to connect it with.
What are the ages that can play?
Ten and above. The basic criteria will be those who can express themselves. There is a particular age before a child can tell you what kindness is, before he can even connect kindness to trust, so any age from ten and above goes.
To be continued next week