Press Release Online Negotiation Games Help Business Leaders Identify and Solve Toronto Production Company, Zapdramatic, Combines Hollywood Flair (Toronto, ON), Monday, April 4, 2005 - Ebbers, Stewart, Lay, Koslowski, Black. This is just a partial list of prominent business leaders who might have benefited from some quality down time in front of their computer, and in particular from a new brand of online negotiation game that is packed with learning experiences for the ethically challenged. “ If Conrad Black and Martha Stewart had played Zapdramatic's professionalism and ethics simulation they would have learned how casual self-serving remarks can slowly compound over time and lead to disproportionate consequences,” says Michael Gibson, President of Zapdramatic. Gibson, a filmmaker, founded Zapdramatic in 2000, with Negotiation and Alternative Dispute Resolution experts Allan Stitt, Frank Handy and Lisa Feld. The company operates a popular member supported Web site at http://www.zapdramatic.com and develops online learning applications for both the public and private sectors. Each and every Zapdramatic game features a strategic puzzle, which the audience must solve. In order to bring the game to a successful conclusion, the audience must learn to negotiate with the characters, using proven negotiation techniques that are acquired as the storyline progresses. In the company's latest animated adventure series, Move or Die , the audience must convince two ethically challenged siblings to abandon their self-serving, short-term approach to problem solving - before they are hit by the deadly Karma bus. “It's really about active listening,” says Gibson, “and not locking yourself into a position.” According to Allan Stitt, the value of the Zapdramatic experience can be found in its innate ability to turn passive players into active learners. “People develop a deeper understanding of ethical situations when they are free to make wrong decisions in a safe, simulated environment,” says Stitt. “By playing along with the game, users can understand why the decisions they made were wrong and then correct the strategy on subsequent attempts.” The first episode of Move or Die launches later this week on Sympatico/MSN, Canada's largest Internet portal. Interested fans can, for a nominal membership fee, play subsequent episodes of the game at http://www.zapdramatic.com . Zapdramatic also recently completed an 8-module online negotiation course, which is certified by the University of Windsor, Faculty of Law, and recognized by universities in Canada and Australia. Zapdramatic games have been used by The Peter F. Drucker Graduate School of Management, the University of Guelph, and Champlain College among others, to teach negotiation skills and techniques Zapdramatic is a division of the Stitt Feld Handy Group, a leader in the area of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and Negotiation. ### For more information or interviews, contact: Julie Giles, Green Hat Communications Tel: 416-762-5328/ E-mail: julie@green-hat.ca |