Simulation & Gaming (April 2012)

The latest issue of Simulation & Gaming 43, 2 (April 2012) has just been published: Articles Formalizing Game-play Tomas By Innovation Diffusion: Assessment of Strategies Within the DIFFUSION SIMULATION GAME Jacob Enfield, Rodney D. Myers, Miguel Lara, and Theodore W. Frick Employee Impressions of a Manager: Computerized Simulation Predictions Clare A. Francis Life Span as the [...]

Agent-based modelling and the US troop surge in Afghanistan

The latest issue of the Journal of Defense Modeling and Simulation 9, 2 (April 2012) is now out. Most of it is devoted to technical discussions of “Resuability, Interoperability and Composability in Air Warfare Simulations,” but it does also feature an interesting and well-written piece by John Sokolowski, Catherine Banks, and Brent Morrow on “Using an agent-based [...]

ISN: Digital games and international relations

The International Relations and Security Network has a series of features this week on “the potential of strategic and digital games to shape international relations, either for better or worse.” First, we hear from Jane McGonigal on the power of games and gaming in general to shape political and social behavior. Seth Priebatsch then introduces [...]

Journal of Virtual Worlds Research

The latest (September 2011) issue of the Journal of Virtual Worlds Research is all about government and military applications of virtual worlds: Research Papers  Applied Virtual Environments: Applications of Virtual Environments to Government, Military and Business Organizations Patrick D. Allen, Chris C. Demchak Virtual nation branding: the Swedish embassy in Second Life Stina Bengtsson MuniGov [...]

Simulation & Gaming (August 2011)

The latest issue of Simulation& Gaming 42, 4 (August 2011) is now available online. The issue focuses history, teaching history, and simulation/gaming, and  has much that will be of interest to PAXsims readers: History and Simulation/Gaming: Living With Two Solitudes Pierre Corbeil Computerized History Games: Narrative Options Kevin Kee Simulating History to Understand International Politics Kimberly Weir [...]

Preparing for an era of uncertainty: military training and simulation

In the latest issue of Training & Simulation Journal, I offer a few thoughts on how US and NATO military training and simulation requirements might change in eventual future post-Iraq/Afghanistan era—arguing that “the development of analytical skills, critical thinking and coping with unpredictability ought to be increasingly important design considerations in the current era of [...]

Does the field need a professional wargaming journal?

…Matt Kirschenbaum obliquely raises the issue at Play the Past. Brant Guillory seems to like the idea. I’m not so sure—and see why, over at Wargaming Connection. UPDATE Ellie Bartels and Jon Compton weigh in too.

Boardgaming (counter) insurgency

The latest (June-July 2011) issue of the online strategy gaming magazine Battlespace has a short article by yours truly on the challenges of designing insurgency/COIN-based boardgames. Have any comments? Feel free to post them here to the blog.

Simulation & Gaming (April 2011)

The latest (1 April 2011) issue of Simulation & Gaming is now online: Philosophy and Simulation David Crookall Philosophical and Epistemological Issues in Simulation and Gaming Till Grüne-Yanoff, Stéphanie Ruphy, John Simpson, and Paul Weirich The Explanatory Power of Models and Simulations: A Philosophical Exploration Paul Weirich Limits to Modeling: Balancing Ambition and Outcome in [...]

CFP reminder: Simulations and Gaming to Build Peace

A reminder to everyone who might be interested in contributing to the forthcoming special issue of Simulation & Gaming: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Theory, Practice and Research on “Simulations and Gaming to Build Peace” that the deadline for proposals (March 31) is fast approaching. As for those who have already submitted something, you should be [...]

JDMS on the The Peace Support Operations Model and stabilization strategy

The most recent (1 April 2011) issue of the Journal of Defense Modeling and Simulation is a special issue devoted to the “Peace Operations Support Model,” developed in the UK to explore peace and stabilization operations: The Peace Support Operations Model (PSOM) was developed following a 2004 Ministry of Defence (MOD) man- date to create [...]

Extra Credits

Those interested in lively, thoughtful, and sophisticated discussion of the challenges of (video) game design might be interested in the regular video series Extra Credits by James Portnow, Daniel Floyd and Allison Theus. It appears regularly at the online video game/movie/genre e-magazine The Escapist. Some earlier editions can also be found on YouTube, such as the [...]

TSJ on USIP’s OSP

Yes, that’s right: Michael Peck at the Training & Simulation Journal has just published a piece on the United States Institute of Peace’s Open Simulation Platform: Reinventing the roundtable New platform takes strategic role-playing to the next level By Michael Peck February 10, 2011 Grunts and pilots train with video games and flight simulators. But [...]

Simulation & Gaming (February 2011)

The latest issue (February 2011) of Simulation & Gaming is now online: Paddy Griffith-1947-2010 John Curry and Donald Featherstone Developing High-Fidelity Health Care Simulation Scenarios: A Guide for Educators and Professionals Guillaume Alinier An Experimental Study of the Reputation Mechanism in a Business Game Marco Greco, Antonio Maurizio Branca, and Gianfranco Morena Learning in Single-Versus [...]

JDMS on modelling political interaction in peace operations

The Journal of Defense Modeling and Simulation: Applications, Methodology, Technology has published an “online before print” article by Paul Strong of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (UK) on “The Peace Support Operations Model: Strategic Interaction Process.” In it he discusses the conceptual and computer modelling challenges of representing factional attitudes and orientations: Modeling complex social [...]