Decision-Making

These decision games are an alternative to majority rule or a “soft” consensus (i.e. agreement arrived at via an informal discussion process). Not every group will need to use them, but if the group’s desires and opinions are diverse, these processes can help to produce an outcome which is acceptable to all or most people.

Consensus

Inputs: None, or several pre-existing options.
Outputs: Either one option is chosen (the Consensus), or several options are taken over to another game such as Bidding or Vote and Veto.
Underlying Aim: Find an option which everyone is reasonably happy with.

Consensus is played in rounds, in each of which everyone involved takes turns to vote around a circle. The rules are as follows:

In the first round, each player may name an option which they favour. More than one person may name the same option. Naming the option constitutes a vote for it.
If all players name the same option in any round (including the first), the game is over; consensus is achieved on that option.
After the first round and before the second, each player may briefly lobby for their option (outlining its advantages).
From the second round, any or all of the players may change their vote to any of the options voted for in the previous round. No new options may be introduced, except that (if this makes sense) a “mashup” of two or more of the options voted for in the previous round may be proposed as a vote. This then becomes an option which goes forward to the next round.
After the third round, or after the second round if the first two rounds produce identical votes from the same people, if consensus has not yet been achieved, assess which of the following situations exists, and act accordingly:
1. Votes are evenly split among all the remaining options. In this case, leave the Consensus game and take the options into another game such as Bidding or Vote and Veto.
2. Some options have more votes than other options, and when the options with the smallest number of votes are eliminated, there is still more than one option. In this case, remove the options with the least support and do not take them through to the next round. (For example, two options have two supporters each, and three have one supporter each. Remove the three options which have one supporter each.)
3. Some options have more votes than other options, and when the options with the smallest number of votes are eliminated, there is only one option left. If the option is supported by a majority, this can be taken forward as the consensus if everyone is prepared to agree to do so. If not everyone is willing to do this, or if the option is supported by a minority, take all the remaining options into another game such as Bidding or Vote and Veto.

Vote and Veto

(Credit: Andrew Stevenson, who came up with a version of this game as a method of choosing which video to watch. In a diverse group, we came up with a video which all of us enjoyed.)

Inputs: None, or several pre-existing options.
Outputs: Either one option is chosen, or several options are taken over to another game such as Consensus or Bidding.
Underlying Aim: Find an option which nobody objects to strongly.
Vote and Veto is played in rounds, in each of which everyone involved takes turns to vote around a circle. The rules are as follows:

In the first round, each person takes it in turn to name a predetermined number of options which they favour. This number should be no greater than three, or (if existing options have been brought in from another game) the total available number of options minus one, whichever is fewer.
In the second and subsequent rounds, each person may veto one of the options from the previous round. This eliminates that option from the next round.
If one option remains at the end of a round, that is the option to be adopted.
If no options remain at the end of a round, transfer the options from the beginning of that round to another game such as Consensus or Bidding.

Bidding

Inputs: None, or several pre-existing options.
Outputs: One option is chosen.
Underlying Aim: Find an option which one player values more strongly than anyone else values their preference.
Bidding is played around a circle. There are no rounds. Everyone involved takes turns to bid (as in poker, or as in an auction – determine which before the game starts) until an outcome is achieved.

In order for bidding to work, the tokens used for bidding must have some value outside the bidding game, generally in another game to be played later.

The rules are as follows:

The first person to bid in the first round names an option and a stake (a number of tokens which he or she is prepared to use to “back” that option).
Subsequent players must match the previous player’s stake and raise it by at least one unit to have their stated option remain in the game.
Any player at any time can pass; this means they can no longer bid from that point on.
Players who have passed may offer some or all of their tokens to a player who has not yet passed, whose option they favour.
When only one player remains who has not passed, that player’s option is adopted.
If bidding as in poker, stakes once offered become part of the “pot”, whether the person offering them wins or not. If bidding as in an auction, only the winner’s final stake is taken for the “pot”; everyone else retains their stakes.
If subsequent games do not use a central pool of tokens, but do use individual pools, the pot may be split between the unsuccessful bidders in proportion to the number of bids they advanced. Effectively, the winner has paid the other members of the group to get the outcome he or she desired, and has paid more to those group members who most valued other options. If the pot cannot be split up exactly, the remainder simply evaporates.