Cold War Confidential:
Briefing a US President
About the Project
Cold War Confidential is a public history project featuring an interactive, digital, text adventure gaming experience. Acting as the US President, you will analyze top secret documents and attempt to resolve a Cold War crisis in real time using the gaming platform, Quest. The learning objectives of this project are twofold:
1. You will learn how to analyze declassified historical documents using best practices.
2. You will learn about the nuances of American foreign policy, diplomacy, and decision making during the Cold War by critically engaging with different historical crises.
how the site works
Hover over the "Choose A Crisis" tab at the top of this page, to select your crisis from the drop-down menu. Once you've chosen your crisis, you will be taken to that page, where you will be presented with the following:
- background information about the President that handled the crisis
- context about the Cold War situation at that moment in time and relevant American foreign policy
-information about the crisis itself
Next, you will review a completed example of how to analyze a historical document. Feel free to use this sample document as a guide later on, when you are analyzing sources within the game.
Once you've familiarized yourself with the crisis, it's time to play! You will be briefed on the crisis situation. Once you are comfortable with your objectives, a new browser window will open, so that you can play in the gaming platform, Quest, whilst referring back to the site as needed.
As you continue scrolling down the page, you will see a list of suggested reading materials, in case you'd like to learn more about your specific crisis. You will also see a citations section at the very bottom of each page. All of the images, information, and documents on the page and in the game are cited.
How the game works
Game Setup:
You are the President of the United States, living in 1960's Cold War America. Your administration must handle a foreign policy crisis that is developing rapidly. As the crisis unfolds, you will be briefed with new information from a variety of sources. Analyze the sources in order to make informed decisions… the fate of the world depends on it.
Goals and Objectives:
As the President, you have several goals within the game:
-
Resolve your Cold War crisis peacefully
-
Ease tensions with the Soviet Union
-
Contain Communism and spread Democracy
-
Support your NATO allies
-
Maintain the National Security of the US
-
Gain respect and project strength as a leader
-
Protect the global reputation of the US
Watch the Game Tutorial Video:
How do I progress through the game?
Each crisis has 6 stages, levels, or "rooms." In order for you to progress to the next room, you must interact with the one mandatory source inside each room. This might involve analyzing a document, participating in a conversation, answering questions, or listening to a news report. Once you do so, complete any reflection questions your teacher may have assigned. Then, your teacher will give you a unique code word to unlock the next room. You cannot progress unless given the correct code word.
What's in The Archives?
For each stage of the crisis, there is one mandatory source that you must interact with in order to progress to the next stage of the game. However, there is additional content embedded at each stage, located in a menu dubbed "The Archives." The Archives contain secret files with information that isn't strictly necessary to know, but that we thought you'd find cool, weird, or fun. Exploring all the files in The Archives is not required, but they were designed to enhance your experience, so we encourage you to check out the ones that interest you.
How do I interact with the game?
Quest is a text adventure game. It is a style of video game that was popular in the 1980's, during the end of the Cold War. When you start the game, it will display an introduction screen, where it will give you instructions on how to play through the first stage. Then it is up to you to type a command into the prompt box- the game will not do anything until you give it a command.
In order to give it a command, you must type something into the prompt box at the bottom of the screen. You can type anything you want to in the box, but the game is designed to recognize certain commands with certain keywords. In order to interact with the game, you must type a command with a recognizable verb and a recognizable object. For example,
Let’s say the game reads,
Your cabinet meeting is over. It’s time to go to the Press Office to meet with your advisors.
You should then type into the prompt box any variation of the commands,
Go to the press office.
In this example, the key verb is go, and the key object is the press office. If the game does not recognize a command, it will tell you so, and you should vary your wording and try again.
How do I win the game?
There is no way to "win" this game. The objective is to simply progress through the 6 stages and resolve the crisis by reaching the "Game Over" screen.
What happens when I make a mistake?
There is no way to fail at this game, and there are no grades or scores. The game also does not keep track of the number of attempts you have tried. However, you can accidentally change the course of history- for better or for worse. If you make a mistake, or answer a question incorrectly, you will have created an alternate timeline, and two things might happen. 1) You might reach a "fail state" screen, which is the game letting you know you've made a mistake, or 2) the game will try to steer you towards the correct answer. In either instance, all you have to do is try again- there is no limit to the amount of attempts you have. The game will always let you know when your choices have deviated from history, and you will be continually guided towards the accurate version of history.
Here is a silly example: let's say you are playing as President Eisenhower, and the game asks you if you'd like a soda. You type in the command box, "yes." Unfortunately, the correct answer is "no," because perhaps the real Eisenhower never drank soda before lunch. The game will probably respond to your mistake with, "Are you sure you'd like a soda? The President isn't fond of sugar in the mornings." You'd then get another chance to answer the question. This time you'd choose "no," and continue playing.
When does the game end?
The game will end after you have progressed through all 6 stages, or "rooms" of your crisis. The game will let you know when you have finished by displaying a "Game Over" screen.
How long will it take to play the game?
Each room is designed to take 10-30 minutes to play, depending on how long you spend analyzing the mandatory source, and how long you spend exploring The Archives. Additional time may be spent answering reflection questions, discussing with group-mates, or completing worksheets as assigned by your instructor.
Did this really happen? Is the game historically accurate?
All of the information is real, and the games are historically accurate. Some of the sources are genuine, however others were created based upon real events and conversations that took place in history. Creating certain sources was necessary from a design standpoint in order to move the game narrative along at a fast pace, condense important information, and to spare you from having to read hundreds of documents. All of the sources that were created are based upon extensive research, and the way in which the crisis plays out in the game is historically accurate. The citations guide at the bottom of each crisis page explains exactly which sources are genuine, faithful, or fictional.
why play a game to learn about the Cold War?
Is this a trick question? Because it's fun! The Cold War was a cool time period, and not just because everybody was watching Invasion of the Body Snatchers at the drive-in theater in their 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air. Living in Cold War America meant building fallout shelters and practicing duck and cover drills because death by total nuclear apocalypse seemed imminent.
While this stuff is interesting to read about in a textbook, we wondered if we could create something that would allow students to learn history in a way that was a bit more... immersive. engaging. EXCITING. So we got together (a historian and a game designer) to build a better history lesson for you. The result is Cold War Confidential- something we wish our teachers had used in history class.
This project features a concept called Game-Based Learning (GBL). Essentially, the idea is that learning by playing is not only possible, but can actually be preferable. It turns out that playing games actually enhances your ability to learn new content and skills through activities that involve problem solving, challenges, and achievement. Thus, the main idea behind GBL is that of active learning: you work towards a goal, choose actions and experience the consequences of those actions.
By playing this game, you are actively practicing how to be a historian, rather than passively learning from a lecture or a textbook. In fact, GBL is how many people learn how to do their jobs well. For example, pilots are often trained on flight simulators, and are able to practice (and fail) in a low-risk environment until they can accomplish specific goals (like landing a plane without crashing). The same principle applies here, except in this scenario, you'll be learning about Cold War crises by using your historical analysis skills to resolve them.
let's get started
Pick a crisis to learn about, using the Choose a Crisis tab at the top of the page, or by clicking on one of the links below. Will you handle the crisis diplomatically, or will you accidentally steer your country into nuclear war?
May 1, 1960