Serious Games and The War In Ukraine

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Preface

The military action in Ukraine is so, so sad. It is senseless and such a waste at so many levels. Humans seem to have almost an unlimited capacity to cause harm to others at both a national and individual level. Games, a source of enjoyment and entertainment, like many human endeavors can also be used as an instrument of war. Here are some thoughts on using wargames as predictive tools or tools to gain insight into one's foes.

Introduction

According to several sources (Lacey, Barrick, Barrick, 2022; Wigmore, 2022) the war in Ukraine was predicted and played out numerous times with various wargames. All in an attempt to try to predict what might happen. This is not surprising as games as a method of training, predicting or preparing for war go back pretty far into the history of humans. It turns out, the war games can be scarily accurate as we'll find out about the war in Ukraine and help to get inside an opponent's mindset.

Using the Term "Serious Games"

Wikipedia defines the term wargame as a type of?strategy game?that simulates warfare realistically, typically using a map that depicts various battlefield terrain features such as woods, hills, etc., with a grid or location system superimposed over top of the terrain to regulate the movement and positions of the games' pieces and actions such as how far a cannon or tank can shoot or how fast troops could move. (Reference: Wikipedia, Wargame)

But to fully understand war gaming and what it has to do with creating a learning game, we need to go back to back in time. Let’s travel back to around the 1770s. ???

Now before this time period games were fairly abstract and were symmetrical because most were modeled on a form of chess where each side has an equal number of pieces, the board was shaped like a square with defined spaces and movements are restricted by both the pieces and the grid on the board.

Somewhere in the 1770's a man named Christoph Weickmann changed all that. He used a map as the game board which meant the game became much more realistic and helpful in planning movements and predicting the amount of time it would take to get from point A to B.

Many claim that one move, adding a map, made the wargames realistic enough to teach lessons about the strategies that might be used in battle. This was (pun intended) a game changer. It became the basis of what is known as Kriegspiel.

You can learn more about the origin of war games in Episode 2 of the Unauthorized, Unofficial History of Learning Games below.

Wargaming Ukraine

Now, two weeks prior to actual war breaking out in Ukraine, the "Marine Corps University ran a four-day wargame to simulate the first several days of just such an invasion...Despite a few stark differences, the current Russian offensive is playing out in ways eerily similar to that simulation" (Lacey, Barrick, Barrick, 2022).

The article mentions that in the wargame scenario, Ukrainian air force was virtually wiped out by day three of the wargame but, of course that is not the case at the moment. However, the wargame did seem to indicate that the slow down in the Russian attack was actually a strategic move.

The game included moves where the Russian players ?"avoided striking at the four regional Ukrainian command and control headquarters, in order to allow them to communicate their surrender if the government collapsed. Consequently, throughout the wargame, these headquarters remained functional and effective, as the Russians focused much of their available long-range strikes on gaining air dominance. These headquarters were just starting to come under intense pressure when the game ended."(Lacey, Barrick, Barrick, 2022).

In retrospect, allowing the Ukrainian headquarters to continue to communicate makes sense if you think they will quickly surrender, it doesn't make sense if that doesn't happen. The wargame was not a 100% indicator of what would happen but they do provide insights that can be helpful.

Value of Wargaming

The value of these types of activities is that they can help prepare for battle but also provide insights into what might happen. There is no doubt the United States and NATO allies have been running through various wargame scenarios to determine what might be the next steps in this on-going war.

As a tool for predicting and estimating moves, actions, and potential plans, the act of creating a realistic setting, allocating accurate numbers of resources and then letting informed, intelligent people try out various approaches is one effective method for gaining insight into the future.

Bio

Karl Kapp is a professor at Bloomsburg?University.. He is a learning experience designer and a learning game designer who works around the global helping organizations create engaging and meaningful learning experiences using an evidence-based approach. He is founder of the?L&D Mentor Academy, a members only group that explores the technology, business acumen and concepts required to take L&D professional's careers to the next level. Apply to Join today.

Additionally, Karl is co-founder of?Enterprise Game Stack, a serious games company that creates digitized card games for learning ranging from interactive role-play games to sorting activities and everything in-between. Find out more at?Enterprise Game Stack.

References:

Wigmore (2022) What Wargames Tell Us about a Possible Russian Invasion (pay wall)

Lacey, Barrick, Barrick, (2022) The Wargame Before the War: Russia Attacks Ukraine