
Reflections on Teaching Wargame Design - idl3Y
https://warontherocks.com/2020/01/reflections-on-teaching-wargame-design/
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nekopa
A very interesting article, with some great linked resources, thanks for
posting. I have started simple wargaming with my young son, and I love how
even in defeat, he always seems to take away something from the experience,
and improve for the next time we play.

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ArtWomb
I concur. This is a pretty exhaustive write-up, with a lifetime of resources
to devour. And while I think there is tremendous advantage to learning tactics
and strategy games. One of my favorites to introduce to the younger set is the
GBA classic "Advance Wars". I wonder if it's healthy. It would be nice if
there was a PeaceGaming library as well. One that taught diplomacy and
conflict resolution through non-violence.

I am reminded of the quote I believe attributed to John Adams along the lines
of "I study war and politics, so that my children may master poetry and
philosophy" ;)

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indigochill
You could dress up wargaming mechanics with more peaceful dressing. Renowned
Explorers has a rock-paper-scissors system using brute force, taunting, and
diplomacy, and each encounter can provide different rewards depending on which
method was most heavily used, more or less.

There's something essentially analytical that underpins wargames and
assessing, e.g. unit strengths and weaknesses, which is good mental practice
for plenty of peaceful applications as well.

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ckozlowski
I've gotten the impression that in the academic use of the term "wargaming"
encompasses this as well. For example, there's an article in the "Zone of
Control" book I mentioned above titled "Cultural Wargaming: Understanding
Cross-Cultural Communications Using Wargames". The emphasis being non-combat,
non-conflict of course. There's other discussions of that in the book, though
I haven't gotten that far into it yet.

But wargaming issues such as diplomacy, geopolitical interactions, and the
like I think all fall into this category as well. Even in IT, we tend to call
operational exercises "wargaming". The Model U.N. conferences I did in high
school I think fall into this category as well.

I think you nailed it when you said that there's something "essentially
analytical" that separates this sorta modeling from roleplaying, in that
there's a system of rules which all parties have to abide by in order to help
produce a realistic model.

I think "Peace gaming" is absolutely part of this subject, and we might stick
it under the "Wargaming" category for established convention purposes, it
definitely belongs here.

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smogcutter
If this is your thing, check out Playing at the World by Jon Peterson. It’s a
fantastic history of simulation games, including both wargaming and rpgs. Also
includes a thorough review of pre-DnD fantasy literature, which I’m sure is
appealing to more than a few of us of HN.

