Connections North 2023 report

The annual Connections North professional (war)gaming conference took place at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa on June 9.

This was the seventh Connections North conference since 2016, and the first time we had met in person again since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020. Details of previous conferences can be found here

As the name suggests, the conference embraces a broader array of serious games in addition to wargaming, something which reflects both the smaller community in Canada and our view that there is substantial overlap in key design and implementation principles across most game topics, military and non-military alike. We also try to maintain a distinctive focus on the issues that confront Canadian (war)gamers, as well as others working in smaller policy communities or resource-constrained environments.

The conference followed our earlier online Workshop on Serious Gaming, held virtually back in April in conjunction with the Canadian Defence Academy. This is something we hope to do annually as an introduction to the field.

cn2023-slides-copyDownload

So that everyone has a sense of what others are doing, the conference starts every year with a round-up of (unclassified) wargaming activities in the Department of National Defence, and in serious gaming more broadly.

Canada Gaming Roundup I: National Defence

• Ben Taylor, DRDC (chair)
• Bruce Chapman (DRDC) (slides/pdf)
• Christian Caron (Canadian Army Simulation Centre) (slides/pdf)
• Anne Reiffenstein (CDA) (slides/pdf)
• Anthony Robb (CFC) (slides/pdf)
• Tony Chainho (CJWC) (slides/pdf)

Canada Gaming Roundup II: Policy Gaming

• Tom Fisher, Imaginetic (chair) (slides/pdf)
• Stefanie Game, Imaginetic (chair)
• Jason Garcia (Policy Horizons) (slide/pdf)
• Bianca Popa (CRA) and Madeline Johnson (CRA) (slides/pdf)
• Philippe Beaulieu-Brossard (Archipelago of Design) (slides/pdf)
• Brian Train (video)
• Scott DeJong (Concordia University) (slides/pdf)
  

An extended lunch period followed. Participants were able to network, visit display tables (by PAXsims, Imaginetic, Calian, and Archapelago of Design), play a demonstration game of We Are Coming, Nineveh!, or visit the War Museum’s new “War Games” exhibit.

Game Lab: Gaming Ethical Challenges

Before lunch, participants selected one of three “gaming ethical challenges” design briefs. After lunch they formed teams of 5-8 and were given one hour to come up with some game design ideas. These were then briefed back to the entire conference in a series of 3 minute timed “elevator pitch,” each of which was followed by a few questions from our panelists.

• Wendi Winter, CDA (chair)
• Rex Brynen (McGill University)
• Stefanie Game (Imaginetic)
• Anne Reiffenstein (CDA)
• Shannon Lewis-Simpson (CFC)

gaming-ethical-challengesDownload

The final session of the conference focused on developing future game scenarios appropriate to Canadian policy concerns. Topics addressed included the general importance of scenario thinking in foresignt analysis, the development of scenarios for the DND/CAF capability based planning process, and identification emerging issues that needed more serious gaming attention in Canada.

Building and Gaming Future Scenarios: Canadian Perspectives

• Madeline Johnson, CRA (chair)
• Claire Woodside (Policy Horizons) (slides/pdf)
• Andy Lee (DRDC) (slides/pdf)
• Stefanie Game (Imaginetic) (slides/pdf)

Overall we were very pleased with how it all went. There were 81 conference registrations, of whom 74 attended on the day. Of those who registered, 46 were government of Canada (33 DND/CAF, 13 other government departments), 9 were students, and 26 were “other.” Around 18% of our attendees were women, as were 33% of our panelists. (The former number is down a bit from the past, likely because we had fewer students than when the conference is held at McGill University. Usually, around half of my conflict simulation design class are women.) We were extremely pleased that Calian Group—which supports wargaming and exercises in the CAF and elsewhere—chose the conference to announce that they are joining the growing list of cosponsors of the Derby House Principles on diversity and inclusion in professional wargaming.

The Canadian War Museum was an outstanding host for the event, and we would like to thank them for all of their assistance. We would also like to thank Defence Research and Development for their financial support this year.