Essay Zone

[Justina Ky]

SoI am in a class right now at my high school and I was tasked to create an essay on a topic of my choosing. I naturally chose Warframe for this assignment, cause why the hell not? So if anyone wants they can read it here. If you find anything wrong with it, please inform me so I can fix it for when i turn it in tomorrow.

Warframe is a great game that is constantly being changed. New weapons, warframes, and missions are added every month, periodically throughout the month to keep players playing and engaged within the community. They have created a fantastic game with challenging yet fun gameplay and have given you almost complete customization over your entire experience within a universe they have established, albeit a bit underdeveloped.

The mission of Kilachand Honors College is to offer a challenging liberal arts education grounded in critical and creative thinking, interdisciplinary problem-solving, and the real-world application of knowledge. Please see for more details about our program, and then respond to one of the following questions in an essay of 600 words or less:

Kilachand Honors College Essay The mission of Kilachand Honors College is to offer a challenging liberal arts education grounded in critical and creative thinking, interdisciplinary problem-solving, and the real-world application of knowledge. Please see for more details about our program, and then respond to one of the following questions in an essay of 600 words or less:

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-->The Hyper-Polarization Challenge to the Conflict Resolution Field

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The ZOPA/bargaining range is critical to the successful outcome of negotiation. But it may take some time to determine whether a ZOPA exists; it may only become known once the parties explore their various interests and options. If the disputants can identify the ZOPA, there is a good chance that they will be able to come to an agreement.

For example, Mary might have two potential buyers for her car. Georgio is willing to pay $6,950. Mary is now negotiating with Fred. If Fred will pay more than Georgio (Mary's BATNA), she will sell to him. If Fred won't pay that much, she'll sell to Georgio. Likewise, if Fred has found another car he likes for $5,500, then he won't pay more than that for Mary's car...maybe even a bit less. So Fred's BATNA is $5,500.

So, a zone of possible agreement exists if there is an overlap between these walk away positions. If there is not, negotiation is very unlikely to succeed. In fact, it will only succeed if one party either realizes that her BATNA is not as good as she thought, or she decides for some other reason to accept the agreement, even though an different option might yield better results. (This often happens when parties do not explore or understand their BATNAs well enough, therefore settling for less than they could have gotten elsewhere.)

If both sides know their BATNAs and walk away positions, the parties should be able to communicate, assess proposed agreements, and eventually identify the ZOPA. However, parties often do not know their own BATNAs, and are even less likely to know the other side's BATNA. Often parties may pretend they have a better alternative than they really do, as good alternatives usually translate into more power in the negotiations. This is explained more in the essay on BATNAs. The result of such deception, however, might be the apparent absence of a ZOPA--and hence a failed negotiation, when a ZOPA actually did exist. Shared uncertainties may also affect the parties' abilities to assess potential agreements because the parties may be unrealistically optimistic or pessimistic about the possibility of agreement or the value of alternative options.[2]

The nature of the ZOPA depends on the type of negotiation.[3] In a distributive (competitive) negotiation, in which the participants are trying to divide a "fixed pie," it is more difficult to find mutually acceptable solutions as both sides want to claim as much of the pie as possible. Distributive negotiations over a single issue tend to be zero-sum -- there is a winner and a loser. There is no overlap of interests between the parties; therefore, no mutually beneficial agreement is possible. The best one can do--sometimes--is split the desired outcome in half.

For example, two people may be competing for one job. In the simplest case, there is no ZOPA because both people want the full-time job and either they or the boss is unwilling to offer them each a half time job instead. So this is the prototypical win-lose outcome. One person wins, the other loses. Or, if they do both take a 1/2 time position, each wins half of what they wanted and loses the other half.

On the other hand, integrative negotiations involve creating value or "enlarging the pie." This is possible when parties have shared interests or are dealing with multiple issues. In this case, the parties can combine their interests and trade off among multiple issues to create joint value. That way both parties can "win," even though neither gets all that they originally thought they wanted. In the example above, if rewriting the job description could create an additional job, then the distributive negotiation would change into an integrative negotiation between the employer and the two potential employees. If both applicants are qualified, now they may both get jobs. The ZOPA, in this case, exists when two jobs are created and each applicant prefers a different one of the two.

[2] Michael Watkins and Susan Rosegrant, Breakthrough International Negotiation: How Great Negotiators Transformed the World's Toughest Post-Cold War Conflicts (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 2001), 26-28. .

Use the following to cite this article:

Spangler, Brad. "Zone of Possible Agreement (ZOPA)." Beyond Intractability. Eds. Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess. Conflict Information Consortium, University of Colorado, Boulder. Posted: June 2003 .

As I continue my own research, I hope that the project of the contact zone will not suffer or dilute. As a westerner considering east-west encounters, the danger remains of reading more into a Western perspective out of a natural affinity. At the same time, as one with South Asian heritage, it is hoped that the pull of ancestral affiliation will counterbalance the gravity of present day belonging. Constant vigilance may be the route.

Our winners will receive attractive prizes, including cash prizes of $500.00 for Middle School and $1,000.00 for Upper School, an autographed advanced copy of Dear Readers and Riders: The Beloved Books, Faithful Fans, and Hidden Private Life of Marguerite Henry by Lettie Teague, along with a Breyer Misty Gift Set. Additionally, their essays will be published in the 2024 IEA Hunt Seat National Finals program celebrating their creative efforts.

The Interscholastic Equestrian Association (IEA) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to promoting lifelong involvement in equestrian athletics by offering a unique draw-based competition format for young riders in grades 4-12, allowing them to compete without owning a horse or riding equipment, providing greater affordability and access to the sport. IEA has nearly 15,000 members across the United States participating in Hunt Seat, Western and Dressage disciplines. For more information, visit www.RideIEA.org

The IEA was established to provide competitive and educational opportunities through equestrian athletics. Good Horsemanship and honorable participation are priorities at every event. It is the responsibility of all attendees to foster a spirit of belongingness, an atmosphere of community enjoyment, and a mutual respect for all participants and their equine partners.

The white yarn slipped off my aluminium crochet hook, adding a single crochet to rows and rows of existing stitches, that looked to be in the form of a blob. Staring at the image of the little unicorn amigurumi lit up on the screen of my laptop, and looking back at the UMO (unidentified messy object) number five, I was extremely perplexed.

This had seemed so easy. Round 1, construct a magic circle with 6 single crochets. Done. Round 2 was an increase round resulting in a total of 12 stitches. Also done. The remaining rounds were blurred into hours and minutes that should have resulted in a little white creature in the likeness of a unicorn, but sitting on my desk (much like the four days before today) was a pool of tangled white yarn. It was not until day seven that a creature with a lopsided head whose horn was the only identifier of the mythical being emerged.

Very much like learning how to crochet, my journey in forging my own path and finding a passion was confusing, messy and at times infuriating. Even in primary school, I had heard all the stories of individuals finding their own route in life. I had been told stories of those who found their passion at a young age and were exceptionally proficient at their craft, of those that abandoned their interests and pursued a lucrative career, even those who chose their dreams but regretted it afterwards. This weighed heavily on me, as I was determined to have a success story as many of my other family members had. The only problem was that I did not have a direction.

In the years following primary school, I stepped out of my comfort zone in a frenzy to find a passion. I joined the school orchestra where I played the violin, and a debate class to practice public speaking and become much more eloquent. At my ballet school, I branched out to contemporary and jazz dance. I stuffed myself with experience similar to an amigurumi engorged with batting. I found myself enjoying all of those activities but soon enough, I was swamped with extracurriculars. Just like the tangles of white yarn on my desk, I was pulled in all directions. I still felt lost. To make things worse, it seemed as if everyone else had found their path in life, and they had all become white unicorns while I was still doubting the stitch I just made.

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