Hard Choices World
The island town of Aurel, floating above the clouds

See where today's choices
lead in 15 years.

You run the town of Aurel for 15 years and watch each decision play out, season by season.

How it works
15 years in Aurel

  1. Four times a year, the council meets.

    Residents ask for things. So do the farmers, the national government and Kestra, the town downstream.

    The spring council: what we know, and the demands on the table

  2. You can act on one of them.

    You have a couple of work crews and a tight budget. Anything you leave on the table carries on, and people remember it.

    A council where both crews are busy and the substation is failing

  3. Each year ends with a look ahead.

    You see what changed, what arrives before the next election, and what the town looks like 15 years ahead if you change nothing.

    The year review: short term, mid term and long term

A record harvest now, or water in 15 years?

"We want bigger pumps. There's plenty of water down there, and we could have a record harvest."

Pick an option to see what follows.

Where people notice the change first

Close up on the old town: monsters at the market stalls and on the bridge
Zoom in and you can watch the residents go about their day.

The fountain in the square

Running

Depends on the ground water under the farms.

The swimming spot

Kids swimming

Depends on the sewers and the sewage plant.

The bakery's basement

Damp after storms

Depends on sewers laid in 1979.

The farmers' stall

Doing fine

Depends on how much water the farms get.

You also deal with what you can't control.

WorldGas prices are up a third after a pipeline dispute. WeatherForecasters give a 70% chance of a heatwave. WorldThirty families flee the drought and ask to settle in Aurel. WorldA water company offers to buy the town's water plant. NationA flood grant pays half of a storm tank, this spring only. TownKestra, downstream, wants to share a sewage plant. NationA carbon tax will double what coal power costs. WorldA battery maker wants the riverside fields.
For classrooms

Something worth arguing about in class

Aurel is for students from 16, early-career graduates and anyone who wants to see how a decision made today plays out over fifteen years.

  • Trace a problem to its causeA fountain that runs dry today goes back to how much the farms pumped five years earlier.
  • Compare this year with 15 years aheadEach option shows what happens this year, before the next election and after it.
  • Decide with incomplete informationForecasts give you odds. A heatwave can still arrive in a year you didn't plan for.
  • Count the political costSome decisions that help the town in 15 years lose you votes at the next election.

Aurel 15 years ahead depends on
what you decide today.

Hard Choices World is in development. Everything on this page comes from the current build.

Sacha Luthi

Who built it

Sacha has spent twenty-five years in HR, helping leaders and their organisations through the messy human side of work, across industries, geographies and business lifecycles.

He works where leadership, technology, the future of work and talent meet. Hard Choices World is one of his side projects. Trying things out is usually the only way to learn.

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