A game serving collective action
With regards to land uses and environmental management issues, it is now generally acknowledged that a significant commitment of all stakeholders involved is needed to achieve sustainable and lasting improvements. But achieving long-term and up-scalable involvement of stakeholders remains a tricky challenge? Genuine inclusiveness of all the stakeholders means profound change in the ways territorial management is thought, framed and implemented, i.e. a genuine paradigm shift that changes how we include other points of view along with our own. The approach presented here pursues this complex yet crucial challenge. This simulation game, called TerriStories, combines open role-play and living theater. Players are territory users, engaged in a variety of activities that they choose themselves, to reach objectives and needs that they set themselves. The game session is first set by participants themselves, as they decide for themselves the main issues to be addressed, then describe the situation as they see it themselves, and finally let them imagine and test (by playing) their own ideas of what might improve their situation. In fact, this is an open game leaving each player to pursue what they consider important, but nevertheless surrounded by other players with their own aspirations. This is thus an ‘equally’ collaborative game, as the implicit aim of the game is both to achieve the well-being of the group as well as each player‘s needs and objectives.
The board game: neither local nor global…but both
The game materials consists of several ‘territorial’ boards, allowing players to take into account social and geographic diversity in their collective analysis, hence they are not bound by the needs of (their) territory. The TerriStories game has been designed to be used in any territorial context and at different scales. It consists of several game boards representing a diverse set of territories, which may represent a national territory, by considering each board as a region of the country or, conversely, a very small local area, each board symbolizing, for example, the territory of several farms. The fact that the game is made up of four boards, and that many social and spatial scales have to be considered, helps participants to focus on a diagnosis and proposals that should be relevant, not only within their territory, but also at other scales, and which should be relevant not only from their point of view, but while also taking into account the views of others.
The boards can be freely modified in order to rebuild the territory concerned in keeping with the viewpoint of the players. Then participants can choose the activities they want to engage in, and whether they will earn income or not from them, depending on rainfall, on the state of resources and on fortuitous socio-economic and environmental events. Ultimately, we are dealing with a participatory simulation game during which participants can introduce any individual action and collective rules they want, at a single board scale (i.e. local or regional rules) or at the scale of four boards (e.g. national rules ans laws…or even global policy). Participants therefore decide for themselves most of the social rules that then become game rules. By providing a simulation medium that is both simple and open to any set of players, while at the same time pushing for pragmatic practices (game scenarios), TerriStories allows players to first agree on collective choices and then find ways to implement them in a concrete and pragmatic way.
The game is played by 8-12 players per board (territory). Thus several boards can be combined, but separately, to represent a greater diversity of places, social groups, perspectives and needs. The game has already been played using 8 boards with a hundred people distributed over the eight boards. The players playing on different boards can freely communicate, and move from one board (territory) to another (e.g. migration, ) if the host board accept the newcomer. They also can simulate organizations and rules shared by different boards if they so wish.
Each player has to manage: a family, a farm, a business, a community territory…that may vary in size so as to take into account the diversitu of real situations. There are two goals in the game: an individual goal for each player, i.e., to meet their own needs in the difficult context that is proposed in the game, by engaging in activites that generate food and income, and a second more collective objective, which is to imagine the most relevant rules for the future…the meaning of ‘relevant’ is to be defined and evolve thanks to interactions between players during the game.
The game is not intended to represent the complex realities of a given territory and the constraints that living there impose. Instead, the game offers a simplification of the reality, where the challenge is to represent the key elements of a changing and uncertain environment, so that one can reflect, in an operational and pragmatic ways, on how to successfully live together. The value of the game rules is to set a framework, within which players can improvise any situation they deem necessary to truly integrate the difficulties and elements of reality, and to try out all forms of organization or action, be they individual or collective, they want to discuss. The rules are open and facilitate improvisation. Therefore, during a game session, players can improvise new roles (mayor, investor, environmentalist, etc.), if they deem it useful for the simulation they are exploring.
The whole game has been designed to be quickly mastered by the participants so that they can easy modify the rules, and adapt and enrich the game depending on their own concerns. TerriStories is designed to allow players to add any game element that they consider useful to deepen their thinking: post-its, new types of tokens or cards… or even elements from their natural environment (see…). A set of game materials with no preset functions are always available for players to develop scenarios of the game. This enables them to stage situations based on real life experiences, and explore and play with their own ideas on how they could improve the situation. Thus, from the coordination of situations they create step by step, they will then be able to act them out. This will allow them to later test and forge new rules to improve the situation based on their own perceptions. The game also showcases all forms of uncertainty and events related to climate, environment or socio-economic realities that one want to see taken into account by the players in collective and creative discussions.
Additional computerized tools
A computer simulation game may support the simulation workshops if necessary. This method linking computer simulation game and role playing game are the results of the a decade of collaborative efforts of interdisciplinary research in order to fairly value and take account of a diversity of points of view (see Companion Modelling or ComMod).
A board game for a wide public use
TerriStories can be used only by real actors that know what are the relevant practices, needs, and challenges regarding sustainable development and collective decision. In order to provide the same ‘freeing ideas’ game to a general audience, a board game for wide public is designed by a committed company in producing sustainable development games, Bioviva.
Case study : the Sahel
The game can be applied to multiple issued of understanding and collective imagination, but to allow its appropriation, a first practical case scenario is made available to players: how might Sahelian farmers cope collectively faced with such a hostile and uncertain environment? Beyond its usefulness in helping players appropriate the game, this case application can also be an end in itself, by raising players‘ awareness on the difficulties faced in the South and on the collective thinking and imagination required to deal with the global challenges such as climate uncertainty and resource scarcity.
The Sahel is one of the most extreme examples of a territory facing major uncertainties. The Sahel is the region of West Africa located between the desert and savanna (Sahel means the shores of the Sahara). It has always been a difficult but not desert territory, with poor vegetation accustomed to dry periods. The climate of the Sahel is not only hot and dry, it is also extraordinarily uncertain: in this context where rainfall is crucial for survival, one never really known where it will rain, how much will fall and for how long. Therefore, what is named the rainy season in the Shale (approximatively July to October) may start, depending on the year, a month or two earlier or later, last several weeks or months, comprise long periods without rain, or heavy rains every day… Every possible variation/combination is possible. And not just in terms of time! Rainfall can be very favorable in a given place and, a few kilometers away, non-existent throughout the duration of the rainy season…Difficult to find more unsure and arbitrary conditions.
How can one manage to survive, to carry out crop or breeding related farming, to collect bush produce, and engage in other rural activities? Yet Sahelians manage to do so. They have even managed over centuries to allow major civilizations prosper with significant population densities. The Sahelian situation is thus a good example of highly uncertain territory regularly subject to events and random changes, which pose major challenges for survival. This great complexity of context which is ideal when attempting to ‘think wider’, or imagine and explore creative solution, in order to build together. The question put to players is the following: would you be able to create synergy with your diverse viewpoints to help you cope? Will you succeed if coming up with creative solutions that neither a biologist nor a sociologist nor a policy decision-maker could have imagined alone?
The players, who are Sahelian villagers, therefore engage in the different activities in the Sahel, season after season (in the Sahelian case the game covers two season: the rainy season and the dry season), year after year, by setting up on a board representing a typical Sahelian territory their activities: rainfed and irrigated agriculture, nomadic grazing, harvesting of bush products, small-scale businesses, economic migration… the activities are represented by tokens of different colors for each activity. Different colored pawns are available for any new activities that a player might think up.
In the Sahelian case rainfall uncertainty and variability are the most restrictive conditions impacting the game. Every rainy season, once the players have positioned their activities a ‘rainfall card’ is drawn at random that indicated a different rainfall amount for every plot of the board, and the resulting impact on the natural resources of the plot. Then, in this already uncertain climatic context, ‘events cards’ add a new level of uncertainty: they can be drawn season after season, and introduce other uncertainties and events that Sahelians farmers may face (locust invasion, fall in production prices, arrival of an investor or project…). Players have allowed to imagine new events, or roles, and introduce themselves in the game.
Once a first annual cycle has been played out, the players now have enough hindsight and experience to devise ways to fare better in uncertain territories. They will be able to create and test by playing and trying out their ideas. From all individual and collective reviews and debriefings on the previous round, players discuss what collective functioning to the most ‘sound’/‘relevant’. The important thing os they first agree on what they define as ‘sound’/‘relevant’: Along which route they would like to try to ‘improve’ the situation: by increasing overall production in the region, or reducing the number of families in need, or by preserving environment? Why not a subtle combination of the three…? The game facilitates respect of the diversity of points of view: instead of leading to select a single ‘right’ answer, the different points of view, once debated and discussed can be used to set out various collective rules options (game scenarios), which they can then test. Here are some points that can frame the discussion:
- Do we really need collective rules? (did the first game session, without collective rules, give rise to more adverse outcomes?)
- Do the required solutions rules have to be general, applicable everywhere and for all, or to only concern a specific area of the board, or a particular kind of user?
- There are even more complex rules, which have already been imagined by Sahelian herders during a game session, in order to adapt to the uncertainty of their climate: specific rules which are applied only for periods several seasons or years) or only during a specific season every year. For example a rule which is applied only in case of drought.
Kwa suala la matumizi ya ardhi na masuala ya usimamizi wa mazingira, sasa ni kawaida kutambuliwa kwamba ahadi kubwa ya wadau wote wanaohusika inahitajika kufikia maboresho endelevu na ya kudumu. Lakini kufikia ushiriki wa muda mrefu na up-scalable ya wadau bado ni changamoto ngumu? Kujumuisha kwa kweli kwa wadau wote kunamaanisha mabadiliko makubwa katika njia za usimamizi wa eneo unaofikiriwa, kufanyizwa na kutekelezwa. Mabadiliko ya mfano ya kweli ambayo hubadilisha jinsi tunavyojumuisha maoni mengine pamoja na yetu wenyewe. Njia iliyotolewa hapa inafuatilia changamoto hii tata lakini muhimu. Mchezo huu wa kuigiza, unaoitwa TerriStories, unachanganya mchezo wa kuigiza na maonyesho ya maonyesho. Wachezaji ni watumiaji wa eneo, wanaohusika katika shughuli mbalimbali ambazo huchagua wenyewe, kufikia malengo na mahitaji ambayo hujiwekea wenyewe. Sehemu ya mchezo ni kwanza kuweka na washiriki wenyewe, kama wao kuamua wenyewe masuala kuu ya kushughulikiwa, kisha kuelezea hali kama wao wenyewe kuona, na hatimaye basi wao kufikiria na mtihani (kwa kucheza) mawazo yao wenyewe ya nini inaweza kuboresha hali yao. Kwa kweli, hii ni mchezo wazi, na kuacha kila mchezaji kufuatilia kile wanachokiona muhimu, lakini bado kuzungukwa na wachezaji wengine na matarajio yao wenyewe. Kwa hiyo hii ni "sawa" ushirikiano mchezo, kama lengo la wazi la mchezo ni wote kufikia ustawi wa kundi kama vile mahitaji na malengo ya kila mchezaji. Mchezo wa ubao: wala wa ndani wala wa kimataifa... lakini wote wawili vifaa vya mchezo vinajumuisha bodi kadhaa za "eneo", kuruhusu wachezaji kuzingatia utofauti wa kijamii na kijiografia katika uchambuzi wao wa pamoja, kwa hivyo hawajafungwa na mahitaji ya eneo lao. Mchezo TerriStories imekuwa iliyoundwa kwa ajili ya kutumika katika mazingira yoyote ya eneo na katika viwango tofauti. Bodi ya mchezo ni bodi ya michezo ambayo inawakilisha maeneo mbalimbali, ambayo inaweza kuwakilisha eneo la kitaifa, kwa kuzingatia kila bodi kama mkoa wa nchi au, kinyume chake, eneo dogo sana la ndani, kila bodi inaonyesha, kwa mfano, eneo la mashamba kadhaa. Kwamba mchezo huo una bodi nne na kwamba viwango vingi vya kijamii na vya kijiografia vinapaswa kuzingatiwa, husaidia washiriki kuzingatia utambuzi na mapendekezo ambayo yanapaswa kuwa muhimu, sio tu katika eneo lao, lakini pia katika viwango vingine, na ambayo yanapaswa kuwa muhimu sio tu kutoka kwa mtazamo wao, lakini wakati wa kuzingatia maoni ya wengine. Bodi inaweza kubadilishwa kwa uhuru ili kujenga upya eneo husika kulingana na mtazamo wa wachezaji. Kisha washiriki wanaweza kuchagua shughuli wanaotaka kushiriki katika, na kama wao kupata mapato au la, kulingana na mvua, juu ya hali ya rasilimali na juu ya matukio ya bahati ya kijamii na kiuchumi na mazingira. Kwa kweli, tunacheza mchezo wa simulation wa ushiriki ambao washiriki wanaweza kuanzisha hatua yoyote ya kibinafsi na sheria za pamoja wanazotaka, kwa kiwango kimoja cha ubao. Mipango ya kawaida ya mkoa au ya kitaifa (kwa mfano, kwa bodi nne za bodi) sheria za kitaifa ans sheria... au hata sera ya kimataifa). Kwa hiyo washiriki huamua wenyewe sheria nyingi za kijamii ambazo kisha huwa sheria za mchezo. Kwa kutoa simulation kati ambayo ni rahisi na wazi kwa seti yoyote ya wachezaji, wakati wakati huo huo kushinikiza kwa ajili ya mazoea ya vitendo (mchezo matukio), TerriStories inaruhusu wachezaji kwanza kukubaliana juu ya uchaguzi wa pamoja na kisha kupata njia ya kutekeleza yao katika njia halisi na vitendo. Mchezo ni alicheza na 8-12 wachezaji kwa bodi (eneo). Hivyo bodi kadhaa inaweza kuunganishwa, lakini kando, kuwakilisha utofauti mkubwa wa maeneo, makundi ya kijamii, mitazamo na mahitaji. Mchezo huu umechezwa kwa kutumia bodi nane na watu mia moja waliosambazwa kwenye bodi nane. Wachezaji kucheza juu ya bodi tofauti wanaweza uhuru kuwasiliana, na hoja kutoka bodi moja (eneo) kwa mwingine (kwa mfano. Uhamiaji, kama bodi ya mwenyeji kukubali mgeni. Wanaweza pia kuiga mashirika na sheria zinazoshirikiwa na bodi tofauti ikiwa wanataka. Kila mchezaji ana kusimamia: familia, shamba, biashara, eneo la jamii... ambayo inaweza kutofautiana katika ukubwa ili kuzingatia diversitu ya hali halisi. "Mtazamo wa ""mtazamo"" ni lengo la kila mchezaji, yaani, kukidhi mahitaji yake mwenyewe katika mazingira magumu ambayo ni mapendekezo katika mchezo, kwa kushiriki katika shughuli ambazo kuzalisha chakula na mapato, na lengo la pili zaidi ya pamoja, ambayo ni kufikiria sheria muhimu zaidi kwa ajili ya siku zijazo." Mchezo huo haukusudiwa kuwakilisha hali halisi tata ya eneo fulani na vizuizi ambavyo kuishi huko kunaleta. Badala yake, mchezo hutoa ufumbuzi wa hali halisi, ambapo changamoto ni kuwakilisha mambo muhimu ya mazingira ya kubadilika na kutokuwa na uhakika, ili mtu aweze kufikiria, kwa njia ya uendeshaji na ya vitendo, juu ya jinsi ya kuishi pamoja kwa mafanikio. """Uthamini wa sheria za mchezo ni kuweka mfumo, ndani ya ambayo wachezaji wanaweza kuunda hali yoyote wanayoona ni muhimu kuunganisha kweli ugumu na vipengele vya hali halisi, na kujaribu aina zote za shirika au hatua, iwe ni ya mtu binafsi au ya pamoja, wanataka kujadili." Sheria ni wazi na kuwezesha improvisation. Kwa hiyo, wakati wa kikao cha mchezo, wachezaji wanaweza improvise majukumu mapya (meya, mwekezaji, mazingira, nk. Kwa hivyo, ikiwa unaona ni muhimu kwa simulation inayotarajiwa. Mchezo wote umebuniwa ili kuwa haraka kufundishwa na washiriki ili waweze kwa urahisi kurekebisha sheria, na kurekebisha na kutajirisha mchezo kulingana na wasiwasi wao wenyewe. TerriStories ni iliyoundwa kuruhusu wachezaji kuongeza yoyote ya mchezo kipengele kwamba wao kuzingatia muhimu kuimarisha mawazo yao: post-it, aina mpya ya ishara au kadi... au hata vipengele kutoka mazingira yao ya asili (tazama). Seti ya vifaa vya mchezo bila kazi preset ni daima inapatikana kwa wachezaji kuendeleza matukio ya mchezo. Hii huwawezesha kuanzisha hali kulingana na uzoefu wa maisha halisi, na kuchunguza na kucheza na mawazo yao wenyewe juu ya jinsi wanaweza kuboresha hali. Hivyo, kutoka kwa uratibu wa hali wanazotengeneza hatua kwa hatua, wataweza kuziigiza. Hii itawawezesha baadaye kupima na kutengeneza sheria mpya ili kuboresha hali kulingana na maoni yao wenyewe. Mchezo pia inaonyesha aina zote za kutokuwa na uhakika na matukio yanayohusiana na hali ya hewa, mazingira au hali halisi ya kijamii na kiuchumi ambayo mtu anataka kuona kuchukuliwa kwa kuzingatia na wachezaji katika majadiliano ya pamoja na ubunifu. Vifaa vya ziada vya kompyuta Mchezo wa kuiga kompyuta unaweza kusaidia warsha za kuiga ikiwa ni lazima. Njia hii ya kuunganisha mchezo wa kompyuta simulation na mchezo wa jukumu ni matokeo ya miaka kumi ya juhudi za ushirikiano wa utafiti wa interdisciplinary ili thamani haki na kuzingatia utofauti wa maoni (tazama Companion Modeling au Commodity). Mchezo wa bodi kwa matumizi ya umma TerriStories inaweza kutumika tu na watendaji halisi ambao kujua nini ni mazoea husika, mahitaji, na changamoto kuhusu maendeleo endelevu na uamuzi wa pamoja. Ili kutoa sawa 'kuweka huru mawazo' mchezo kwa watazamaji wa jumla, mchezo wa bodi kwa umma pana ni iliyoundwa na kampuni ya kujitolea katika kuzalisha maendeleo endelevu michezo, Bioviva. Mchezo wa Sahel unaweza kutumika kwa masuala mengi ya uelewa na mawazo ya pamoja, lakini kuruhusu matumizi yake, hali ya kwanza ya kesi ya vitendo inapatikana kwa wachezaji: jinsi gani wakulima wa Sahel wanaweza kukabiliana kwa pamoja kukabiliwa na mazingira ya uhasama na kutokuwa na uhakika? Zaidi ya manufaa yake katika kusaidia wachezaji wenyewe mchezo, maombi ya kesi hii pia inaweza kuwa mwisho yenyewe, kwa kuongeza ufahamu wa wachezaji juu ya matatizo yanayokabiliwa Kusini na juu ya kufikiri kwa pamoja na mawazo yanayohitajika kukabiliana na changamoto za kimataifa kama vile hali ya hewa, ukosefu wa uhakika na upungufu wa rasilimali. Sahel ni moja ya mifano ya kupita kiasi ya eneo linalokabiliwa na kutokuwa na uhakika mkubwa. Sahel ni eneo la Afrika Magharibi lililo kati ya jangwa na savana (Sahel inamaanisha pwani ya Sahara). Sikuzote imekuwa eneo gumu lakini si jangwa, likiwa na mimea midogo iliyozoea vipindi vya ukame. Hali ya hewa ya Sahel ni ya joto na kavu, lakini pia ni ya kutokuwa na uhakika: katika muktadha huu ambapo mvua ni muhimu kwa kuishi, mtu hawezi kujua ni wapi mvua itanyesha, ni kiasi gani itanyesha na kwa muda gani. Kwa hiyo, kile kinachoitwa msimu wa mvua katika Shale (karibu Julai hadi Oktoba) inaweza kuanza, kulingana na mwaka, mwezi mmoja au mbili mapema au baadaye, wiki kadhaa au miezi, ni pamoja na vipindi virefu bila mvua, au mvua kubwa kila siku. Na si kwa habari ya wakati tu! Mvua inaweza kuwa nzuri sana katika mahali fulani na, kilomita chache mbali, haipo wakati wote wa msimu wa mvua... Ni vigumu kupata hali zisizo na uhakika na za hiari. Mtu anawezaje kufanikiwa kuishi, kufanya kilimo au kilimo kinachohusiana na uzalishaji, kukusanya mazao ya misitu, na kushiriki katika shughuli nyingine za vijijini? Hata hivyo, watu wa Saheli wanafaulu kufanya hivyo. Hata wamekuwa wakiruhusu ustaarabu mkubwa usitawi kwa karne nyingi kwa kuwa na idadi kubwa ya watu. Hali ya Sahel ni mfano mzuri wa eneo lisilo na uhakika sana ambalo mara kwa mara linakabiliwa na matukio na mabadiliko ya bahati mbaya, ambayo yanaweka changamoto kubwa kwa uhifadhi. Hii utata mkubwa wa muktadha ambayo ni bora wakati wa kujaribu 'kufikiri zaidi' au kufikiria na kuchunguza suluhisho la ubunifu, ili kujenga pamoja. Swali lililoulizwa kwa wachezaji ni kama ifuatavyo: Je, utaweza kuunda ushirikiano na maoni yako mbalimbali ili kukusaidia kukabiliana? Je, utafanikiwa ikiwa utapata suluhisho la ubunifu ambalo mwanabiolojia, mwanasosholojia, au mteuzi wa sera hawezi kufikiria peke yake? Kwa hivyo, wachezaji, ambao ni wakazi wa Sahel, hujihusisha na shughuli tofauti katika Sahel, msimu baada ya msimu (katika kesi ya Sahel mchezo unashughulikia misimu miwili: msimu wa mvua na msimu wa kiangazi), mwaka baada ya mwaka, kwa kuanzisha ubao unaowakilisha eneo la kawaida la Sahel, shughuli zao: kilimo cha mvua na umwagiliaji, malisho ya kuhamahama, mavuno ya bidhaa za misitu, biashara ndogo, uhamiaji wa kiuchumi... Pawns tofauti rangi zinapatikana kwa ajili ya shughuli yoyote mpya kwamba mchezaji inaweza kufikiri juu. Katika kesi ya Sahelian mvua kutokuwa na uhakika na kutofautiana ni hali ya vikwazo zaidi kuathiri mchezo. Kila msimu wa mvua, mara tu wachezaji wameweka shughuli zao, kadi ya mvua huchorwa kwa nasibu ambayo inaonyesha kiasi tofauti cha mvua kwa kila eneo la ubao, na athari inayotokana na rasilimali za asili za eneo hilo. Kisha, katika muktadha huu wa hali ya hewa tayari usio na uhakika, " kadi za matukio " huongeza kiwango kipya cha kutokuwa na uhakika: zinaweza kuchorwa msimu baada ya msimu, na kuanzisha kutokuwa na uhakika na matukio mengine ambayo wakulima wa Saheli wanaweza kukabiliwa nayo ( uvamizi wa nzige, kuanguka kwa bei ya uzalishaji, kuwasili kwa mwekezaji au mradi...). Wachezaji wameruhusiwa kufikiria matukio mapya, au majukumu, na kujianzisha katika mchezo. Baada ya mzunguko wa kwanza wa kila mwaka, wachezaji sasa wana uzoefu na ufahamu wa kutosha wa kubuni njia za kufanya vizuri zaidi katika maeneo yasiyo na uhakika. Watakuwa na uwezo wa kuunda na kupima kwa kucheza na kujaribu mawazo yao. Kutoka kwa ukaguzi wote wa mtu binafsi na wa pamoja na ripoti kwenye raundi ya awali, wachezaji wanajadili ni nini kazi ya pamoja kwa zaidi ya "sauti" / "mahususi". "Watu wanaokubaliana juu ya kile wanachoita ""sawa"" au ""mahususi"" ni njia gani wanataka kujaribu ""kuboresha"" hali: kwa kuongeza uzalishaji wa jumla katika mkoa, au kupunguza idadi ya familia zinazohitaji, au kwa kuhifadhi mazingira?" Kwa nini si mchanganyiko wa hila wa tatu...? Mchezo huu unawezesha heshima ya utofauti wa maoni: badala ya kuongoza kuchagua jibu moja "sawa", maoni tofauti, mara moja kujadiliwa na kujadiliwa inaweza kutumika kuweka chaguzi mbalimbali za sheria za pamoja (hali ya mchezo), ambayo wanaweza kisha mtihani. Hapa ni baadhi ya pointi ambayo inaweza frame majadiliano: - Je, sisi kweli haja ya sheria za pamoja? (je, kikao cha kwanza cha mchezo, bila sheria za pamoja, kuleta matokeo mabaya zaidi?) - Je, sheria za ufumbuzi zinazohitajika lazima ziwe za jumla, zinatumika kila mahali na kwa wote, au kuhusisha tu eneo maalum la bodi, au aina maalum ya mtumiaji? - Kuna sheria ngumu zaidi, ambazo tayari zimefikiriwa na wachungaji wa Sahel wakati wa mchezo, ili kukabiliana na kutokuwa na uhakika wa hali yao ya hewa: sheria maalum ambazo zinatumika tu kwa vipindi vya misimu kadhaa au miaka) au tu wakati wa msimu maalum kila mwaka. Kwa mfano sheria ambayo hutumiwa tu katika kesi ya ukame.