A History of Serious Games
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A 90 minute tutorial on the history of serious games, beginning around 3000BC and proceeding through 2010.
![A History of Serious Games Roger Smith Chief Technology Officer US Army PEO STRI [email_address] http://www.peostri.army.mil/CTO Approved for Public Release. Security and OPSEC Review Completed: No Issues. I/ITSEC 2009 Tutorial December 2009, Orlando, FL](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/rsmithhistoryseriousgames-12589077257784-phpapp01/85/a-history-of-serious-games-1-320.jpg)
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A History of Serious Games
- 1. A History of Serious Games Roger Smith Chief Technology Officer US Army PEO STRI [email_address] http://www.peostri.army.mil/CTO Approved for Public Release. Security and OPSEC Review Completed: No Issues. I/ITSEC 2009 Tutorial December 2009, Orlando, FL
- 3. Computer “Killer Apps” Spreadsheet Word Processor E-Mail Web Browser 3D Game Engine
- 4. Industries Using Serious Games Military Medicine Emergency Mgt City Plan Engineering Religion Space Explore Machinima Politics
- 18. Go, 2300BC
- 28. Wargaming in the Dirt
- 35. Naval War College, 1900s 1895 1914 1947
- 46. Naval Warfare Gaming System, 1985
- 47. Military Computer Wargaming Evolution JTC JSIMS MTM GRWSIM WES NWISS RESA BGTT Maritime JSIMS ADSIM AWSIM AWSIM/R NASM TWSEAS MTWS Maritime+ WARSIM POSTOAK TACSIM WIM NWGS ENWGS ENWGS 4.0 CSSTSS 1 CSSTSS 2 WARSIM JTLS JESS CBS WARSIM NSAT NWARS NESS NATSIM SITM/ SETM MTWS 2 JANUS JCM JCATS NWARS NG AWSIM 2 JLCCTC
- 52. Pong, 1972 © Copyright Atari
- 53. Home Game Consoles, 1972 Magnavox Odyssey, 1972 Atari 2600, 1983 Nintendo Entertainment System, 1984 Super NES, 1991 Sega Genesis, 1989 Sega Saturn, 1994 Sony Playstation, 1995 Nintendo 64, 1996 Sega Dreamcast, 1998 Playstation 2, 2000 Game Cube, 2001 Microsoft X-Box, 2001 X-Box 360, 2005 Playstation 3, 2006 Nintendo Wii, 2006
- 56. MMORPG, 1997 © Copyright Origin Entertainment © Copyright Blizzard Entertainment © Copyright Sony Entertainment Ultima Online WoW Everquest
- 57. Virtual Worlds, 1997 Active Worlds There.com The Sims Online Second Life
- 58. Game Technologies Physical Models AI Network Persist ence 3D Engine GUI Game Tech Core
- 67. Political & Medical Gaming Peacemaker Dean for America Re-Mission
- 68. Religious Gaming Left Behind Ominous Horizons Interactive Parables
- 77. 2008 SGS&C Winners Government: Geo Commander Student: Age of Ecology Small Business & Overall: Burn Center People’s Choice: Direct Action
- 78. The Matrix vs. The Holodeck 2500AD 2199AD
- 80. References Abt, C. (1970). Serious Games . New York: The Viking Press. Beck, J.C. and Wade, M. (2004). Got game: How the gamer generation is reshaping business forever . Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press. Bergeron, B. (2006). Developing serious games . Charles River Media. Bushnell, N. (August 1996). Relationships between fun and the computer business. Communications of the ACM , 39(8), 31–37. Chatham, R.E. (July 2007). Games for training. Communications of the ACM , 50(7), 37–43. Federation of American Scientists. (2006a). R&D challenges for games in learning. Washington D.C.: Author. Federation of American Scientists. (2006b). Summit on educational games: Harnessing the power of video games for learning. Washington D.C. Herz, J. and Macedonia, M. (April 2002). Computer games and the military: Two views. Defense Horizons , 11. Online at http://www.ndu.edu/inss/DefHor/DH11/DH11.htm Kelly, H., et al. (July 2007). How to build serious games. Communications of the ACM , 50(7), 45–49. Kushner, D. (Aug 2002). The wizardry of id. IEEE Spectrum , 39(8), 42–47. Lenoir, T. (2003). Programming theatres of war: Gamemakers as soldiers. In Latham, R. (Ed.) Bombs and Bandwidth: The emerging relationship between information technology and security . New York: The New Press. Online at http://www.stanford.edu/dept/HPST/TimLenoir/Publications/Lenoir_TheatresOfWar.pdf Michael, D and Chen, S. (2005). Serious games: Games that educate, train, and inform . New York: Thompson Publishing. Orbanes, P.E. (2004). The Game makers: The Story of Parker Brothers . Boston: Harvard Business School Press. Postigo, H. (2003). From Pong to Planet Quake: Post-industrial transitions from leisure to work. Information, Communications, and Society , 6(4), 593–607. Prensky, M. (2001). Digital game-based learning . New York: McGraw Hill. Sheff, D. (1999). Game over: Press start to continue . Wilton, CT: Cyber Active Publishing. Smith, R. (January 2006). Technology Disruption in the Simulation Industry. Journal of Defense Modeling and Simulation, 3(1), Online at http://www.scs.org/pubs/jdms/vol3num1/JDMSvol3no1Smith3-10.pdf Steinkuehler, C. (January 2007). Massively multilayer online video gaming as participation in a discourse. Mind, Culture, and Activity , 13(1), 38–52. Zyda, M. (July 2007). Creating a science of games. Communications of the ACM , 50(7), 27–29. Zyda, M. (September 2005). From visual simulation to virtual reality to games. IEEE Computer , 38(9), 30–34. Zyda, M. (June 2006). Educating the next generation of game developers. IEEE Computer , 39(6), 25–32.
Notas del editor
- This is just one history of serious games. It is distinctly focused on building a story that arrives at the emergence of serious games for military uses in the early 2000’s. The slides have been released publicly to serve as a resource for telling this story and for improving it by the contributions and reuse by many authors.
- The demand of computer devices is driven by the relevancy of the software applications available. This demand and existing applications provides funding for R&D to create new computer and software products. “Killer Apps” are pursued in this industry because they have the ability to increase hardware sales as much as 10X. The apps create the demand that generates profit and enables the funding of new technology like faster chips, audio cards, graphic cards, smaller disk drives, and network infrastructure. In the business domain the Spreadsheet and Word Processor were some of the most powerful killer apps. Email and Web Browsers emerged to serve non-revenue generating users, but quickly became valuable and essential business applications as well. The consumer 3D Game Engine was created to provide entertainment to a small niche of computer users. But it spread virally and became an entertainment Killer Apps that rivals business applications in its ability to generate hardware sales. The current multi-billion dollar entertainment game industry is built on the back of the 3D Game Engine. It is just now being adopted for serious applications or “Serious Games” by business and government organizations.
- People in India brought the idea of thowing the knucklebones of sheep or pigs to tell the future, or to play a game of skill like jacks, when they first came from Africa to India about 40,000 BC. But people in India may have been the first to get the idea of carving those knucklebones and turning them into marked dice. The earliest known dice in the world come from a backgammon set from Iran, from about 3000 BC. Harappan people certainly used dice about 2500 BC, and the Rig Veda and the Mahabharata both tell stories about dice. URL Link : http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/india/games/index.htm
- Senet in Egypt: 3000 BC Games with pebbles, in spaces roughly drawn out on the ground, are a pleasant way of passing spare time - of which hunters and gatherers have more than one might imagine. In a settled community a flat and permanent surface is a clear improvement on the rough ground; and pleasantly carved pieces are much preferable to pebbles. The development of board games is an inevitable part of human history. The earliest known example - the senet of the Egyptians - is being played by 3000 BC and is still popular in a recognizable form in Egypt 5000 years later. Beautifully made boards for senet and other such games (with built-in drawers for the pieces) survive from Egyptian tombs. One of the most popular indoor activities was a board game known as senet. Tourists who visit Egypt with a cautious eye may well run across a simple version of the board, sometimes found at antiquity sites marked out on the pavement or stone. However, much more elegant boards are to be found among the wealthy, including one found in the tomb of Tut. This game was an ancestor of draughts, with a checkered board known as the "perw" (houses) of three rows of 10 squares. Pieces of the opposing sides were distinguished by their size, color or shape. Each opponent usually had seven pieces. Moves were determined by throwing sticks, or "astragals (knuckle-bones). The object was to move the pieces around a snaking track to the finish, landing on a number of specially marked squares representing good or bad fortune. Senet, which means "passing" became so popular it took on religious significance.
- A replica of a game found in a royal tomb at Ur dated around 2600 BC which makes it one of the oldest game boards in existence. The original, truly a special item, is on display at the British Museum. The rules of the game as it was played around 2500BC are not know at all but the same boards were still in use a century or two before the birth of Christ and archeologists have discovered the rules for the game played at that time on some cuneiform tablet dated at 177/176BC. The early games show a variety of patterns on the board but the consistent factor is that five rosettes always appear. Game historians have argued and conjectured as to how the game might have been played. Some boards that have been found only feature the rosettes and all boards seem to feature rosettes in similar patterns leading most people to suppose that only the rosettes are significant. But, as can be seen from the pictures, others boards have different symbols within the squares. To this author, the other symbols seem to be more than just decoration - they are quite clearly denoted and artistically consistent with the rosettes so it seems possible that these symbols also meant something. So, it's this author's guess, given that the formal gaming authorities presumably didn't exist, that there were probably several popularly played sets of rules going around and also, as likely as not, several types of board. Perhaps the boards found in the tombs, being royal, had not only more ornate boards but also more ornate rules to match? One factor that has been controversial is the path that the counters take around the board but H.J.R. Murray's original guess is the most elegant. He suggested that entry is made on the row on the fourth square from the left (in the top right picture) going left. One player enters on the top row, the other on the lower. When the counter reaches the corner, it moves to the middle row and travels along. When it reaches the penultimate square in that row it turns again going to the opposite row to that which it started and then travels around the outside of the 2 x 3 rectangle before returning back down the middle row and off the board where it came entered. This makes a path of 27 squares, the 28th move being to bear off the board. A shorter version of this has the pieces departing from the board into the same gap but immediately after the fourth rosette - a path of 16 squares, the 17th being to bear off. Either way, every fourth square of the path is a rosette. The nature of the rosettes is also up for debate. They could be squares to be avoided - maybe they send the counter back to the start or forced a player to pay a fine into a central pool of betting money. Or some authors have suggested that they are safe squares where a counter cannot be caught (but this author thinks this is unlikely - the suggested tracks taken by the counters mean that some rosettes are in places that the opponent cannot reach so no need for safe squares...). Or the third likely idea is that landing on a rosette gave the player an extra turn. Whatever, the fact that they lie four squares apart from each other suggests that the number four was important. Since the game was played with 3 binary pyramidal lots which give a number from 0 to 3 each throw, many people therefore believe that a throw of 0 would allow the player a move of 4 squares. So, for instance, if H.J.R.Murray's path is used along with the idea that landing on a rosette gives another go, it would be possible by repeatedly throwing fours to get a counter all the way home in one turn.
- Among the treasures found at Ur is a board laid out as if for the game of backgammon - which remains to this day one of the most popular board games in the Middle East. Like senet and other board games of antiquity (but unlike, chess, draughts or the Japanese game of go), backgammon involves a large element of luck - since the movement of the pieces along the board depends on the numbers thrown. At this period a number is established by throwing sticks and counting those which fall with a given side upwards. The more economical method of six-sided dice is developed by about 2000 BC. http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?groupid=2271&HistoryID=ac02
- The earliest surviving remnant of liubo dates from circa 1500 BC, the Shang Dynasty in China, carved on a slab of blue stone. For a photo of this ancient game, see [1]. Liubo is thought to have lost its popularity by around the 6th century AD. As with most other games handed down to us from antiquity, exactly how liubo was played may have varied from one time period to another and one player to another and one culture to another. For example, upon analyzing the ancient literature of Greek Board Games Professor Austin remarks that Plato in the 5th to 4th centuries BC originally described petteia as a battle game, but by the time knowledge of that game reached Eustathius Macrembolites in the 12th century AD, Eustathius was calling it a race game. Professor Austin supplies other similar examples as well. Liubo is no different. Where some may refer to liubo playing pieces as "generals" and "pawns" (see The History of Xiangqi) others refer to them as "fish," "stones" and "owls" (see Cazaux, Is Chess A Hybrid Game?). Consequently, while some regard liubo as a battle game played with dice, others regard it as a game only akin to playing a game of cards where players accumulate points or "fishes." Though there are a number of surviving literary references to and artistic impressions of the game that date from antiquity, there are no known surviving records of the rules of liubo. Some scholars have attempted to reconstruct the game, most notably Lien-sheng Yang, who discusses the game as it was possibly played on TLV mirrors. Because we do know that liubo was played by some as a "battle game" (with sticks that were similar to dice) it has gained the distinction of having perhaps spawned the creative development of Xiàngqí (also known as Chinese Chess), another ancient Chinese battle game (played without dice). Furthermore, some may point out how the board design of liubo lends itself to a Xiàngqí-like grid of squares. URL Link : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liubo
- Warri is a simple game found throughout Africa and the Caribbean. It has many other names like “Count and Capture” and “Mancala”. The game may have evolved around 1400BC from the practice of accounting for goods with stone counters. It is played with a handful of stones that are placed in the cups. Each player takes a turn scooping the rocks from one cup and redistributing them consecutively among the other cups. The game contains many regional variations of the rules, but play usually continues until one player gets all of his stones into the end cup to his right (the Manacala).
- No artifacts of the actual game of Wei Hai have survived. Its origins around 3000BC and usage are derived from other references in historical documents. These descriptions lead us to believe that it operated very much like the modern game of Go. The name means “encirclement” and we know it involved and abstract board with colored stones.
- Go is the Oriental equivalent of Western Chess, though it is much older, originating around 2300BC. Players place colored stones on a board where the objective is to control the largest area possible with stones of your color. The stones are placed at the intersections of the grid lines, rather than within the squares as in Chess.
- Chaturanga originated in India around 500BC and is found in both 2-player and 4-players versions. It makes use of pieces that closely equate to those found in Chess. These pieces represent the Infantry, Rajah, Elephant, Cavalry, and Chariot (or Boatman). Chaturanga is the direct ancestor of Chess. Originally the piece to move was selected by rolling dice. But Hindu law prohibited gambling and the dice were eliminated to avoid violating this law.
- Xiangqi has a long history. Though its precise origins have not yet been definitely confirmed, the earliest indications reveal the game may have been played as early as the 4th century BC, by Tian Wen ( 田文 ), the Lord of Mengchang ( 孟嘗君 ) for the state of Qi, during the Warring States Period. (See chess in early literature or timeline of chess.) Judging by its rules, Xiangqi was apparently closely related to military strategists in ancient China. The ancient Chinese game of Liubo may have had an influence as well. The word Xiàngqí's meaning "figure game" can also be treated as meaning "constellation game". Sometimes the xiàngqí board's "river" is called the "heavenly river", which may mean the Milky Way; previous versions of xiàngqí may have been based on the movements of sky objects. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, wars were fought for years running. A new strategy board game was patterned after the array of troops (according to a hypothesis by David H. Li, this was developed by Han Xin in the winter of 204 BC-203 BC to prepare for an upcoming battle). This was the earliest form of Xiangqi. During the Cao Wei, Jin and Northern and Southern Dynasties, a kind of strategy game was popular among the people. It laid a foundation for the finalized pattern of Xiangqi. In ancient times, both highbrows and lowbrows enjoyed Xiangqi. During the reign of Suzong of the Tang Dynasty, Prime Minister Niu Sengru wrote a fictional story about Xiangqi. That occurred during the Baoying period, so it was named Baoying. Baoying had six pieces and produced a significant influence on Xiangqi in subsequent years. Three forms of the game took shape after the Song Dynasty. One of them consisted of 32 pieces. They were played on a board with 9 vertical lines and 9 horizontal lines. Popular in those days was a board without a river borderline; the Korean game of janggi is derived from this earlier riverless version. The river borderline was added later, and this form of the game has lasted to the present day. With the economic and cultural development during the Qing Dynasty, Xiangqi entered a new stage. Many different schools of circles and players came into prominence. With the popularization of Xiangqi, many books and manuals on the techniques of playing the game were published. They played an important role in popularizing Xiangqi and improving the techniques of play in modern times. URL Link : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiangqi
- Chaturanga spread from India to Persia and then into Europe. Western Chess emerged around 500AD as a derivative of Chaturanga and is one of the most widely played games of strategy in the Western world. The game has always symbolized strategic and tactical thinking. Mastery of the game has always implied some degree of skill in commanding military forces. NOTE: The term “checkmate” as used in chess is derived from the Persian term shah mat, which means “king dead”.
- The Mansion of Happiness: An Instructive Moral and Entertaining Amusement is a children's board game inspired by Christian morality designed by Anne Abbott in 1843. Players race about a sixty-six space spiral track depicting virtues and vices with their goal being The Mansion of Happiness at track's end. Instructions upon virtue spaces advance players toward the goal while those upon vice spaces send them further away from it. The game was published by W. & S.B. Ives of Salem, Massachusetts in 1843, and republished by Parker Brothers in 1894. The popularity of The Mansion of Happiness and similar moralistic board games was challenged in the last decades of the 19th century when the focus of games became materialism and competitive capitalistic behavior. The 1894 republication claimed The Mansion of Happiness was the first board game published in the United States of America ; today, however, the distinction is awarded to Lockwood's Traveller's Tour games of 1822 The Mansion of Happiness is a roll-and-move track board game, and, typical of such games, the object is to be the first player to reach the goal at the end of the board's track, here called The Mansion of Happiness (Heaven). Centrally located on the board, the goal pictures happy men and women making music and dancing before a house and garden. To reach The Mansion of Happiness, the player spins a teetotum and races around a sixty-six space spiral track depicting various virtues and vices. Instructions upon spaces depicting virtues move the player closer to The Mansion of Happiness while spaces depicting vices send the player back to the pillory, the House of Correction, or prison, and thus, further from The Mansion of Happiness. Sabbath-breakers are sent to the whipping post . The vice of Pride sends a player back to Humility, and the vice of Idleness to Poverty. The game's rules noted: "WHOEVER possesses PIETY, HONESTY, TEMPERANCE, GRATITUDE, PRUDENCE, TRUTH, CHASTITY, SINCERITY...is entitled to Advance six numbers toward the Mansion of Happiness. WHOEVER gets into a PASSION must be taken to the water and have a ducking to cool him... WHOEVER posses[ses] AUDACITY, CRUELTY, IMMODESTY, or INGRATITUDE, must return to his former situation till his turn comes to spin again, and not even think of HAPPINESS, much less partake of it.“ Jensen, Jennifer. "Teaching Success Through Play: American Board And Table Games, 1840–1900". Magazine Antiques, December, 2001
- URL Link: http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa121997.htm In investigating the history of the world's best selling board game, I discovered a trail of controversy surrounding Monopoly beginning in 1936. This was the year Parker brothers introduced Monopoly ® after purchasing the rights from Charles Darrow. The controversy continues with the General Mills Fun Group (buyers of Parker Brothers and Monopoly ) bringing a lawsuit against Ralph Anspach and his Anti-Monopoly ® game in 1974. Finally, there is Anspach's pending monopolization lawsuit against the present owners of Monopoly . Dr. Anspach deserves the real credit for unearthing the true history of Monopoly while developing his defense case against the Parker Brothers' infringement suit. Make sure to read the second part of this article to find out what is happening with Dr. Anspach today and to read a special statement written by him. Now let us look at the history of Monopoly play by play. Let us start with a summary from what is commonly considered the definitive resource on the subject, "The Monopoly Book, Strategy and Tactics" by Maxine Brady (wife of Hugh Hefner's biographer and chess champion Frank Brady), published by the David McKay Co. in 1975. Brady's book describes Charles Darrow as an unemployed salesman and inventor living in Germantown, Pennsylvania, who was struggling with odd jobs to support his family in the years following the great stock market crash of 1929. Charles Darrow remembering his summers spent in Atlantic City, New Jersey, spent his spare time drawing the streets of Atlantic City on his kitchen tablecloth, with found pieces of material and bits of paints, wood etc. contributed by local merchants. A game was already forming in his mind as he built little hotels, houses and other tokens to go along with his painted streets. Soon friends and family gathered nightly to sit round the kitchen table to buy, rent and sell real estate, all part of a game involving spending vast sums of play money. It quickly became a favorite activity among those with little real cash of their own. The friends soon wanted copies of the game to play at home (especially the winners.) The accommodating inventor began selling copies of his board game for four dollars each. He then made up a few sets and offered them to department stores in Philadelphia. Orders for the game increased to the point where Charles Darrow decided to try to sell the game to a game manufacturer rather than going into full-scale manufacturing. He wrote to Parker Brothers to see if the company would be interested in producing and marketing the game on a national basis. The company turned down Charles Darrow, explaining that his game contained "fifty-two fundamental errors" including: the game took too long to play, the rules were too complicated and there was no clear goal for the winner. Darrow continued to manufacture the game; he hired a printer friend to produce five thousand copies. He had orders to fill from department stores including F. A. O. Schwarz. One customer, a friend of Sally Barton, daughter of Parker Brothers' founder, George Parker, bought a copy of the game. The friend told Mrs. Barton how much fun Monopoly was, the friend also suggested that Mrs. Barton tell her husband, Robert B. M. Barton, then president of Parker Brothers. Mr. Barton listened to his wife and bought a copy of the game. Soon he arranged to talk business with Darrow in Parker Brothers' New York sales office, offering to buy the game and give Charles Darrow royalties on all sets sold. Darrow accepted and permitted Parker Brothers to develop a shorter variation of the game, added as an option to the rules.
- URL Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrabble In 1938, architect Alfred Mosher Butts created the game as a variation on an earlier word game he invented called Lexiko . The two games had the same set of letter tiles, whose distributions and point values Butts worked out meticulously performing a frequency analysis of letters from various sources including The New York Times . The new game, which he called "Criss-Crosswords," added the 15-by-15 game board and the crossword-style game play. He manufactured a few sets himself, but was not successful in selling the game to any major game manufacturers of the day. In 1948, James Brunot, a resident of Newtown, Connecticut, (and one of the few owners of the original Criss-Crosswords game) bought the rights to manufacture the game in exchange for granting Butts a royalty on every unit sold. Though he left most of the game (including the distribution of letters) unchanged, Brunot slightly rearranged the "premium" squares of the board and simplified the rules; he also changed the name of the game to "Scrabble," a real word which means "to scratch frantically." In 1949, Brunot and his family made sets in a converted former schoolhouse in Dodgington, a section of Newtown. They made 2,400 sets that year, but lost money. According to legend, Scrabble's big break came in 1952 when Jack Strauss, president of Macy's, played the game on vacation. Upon returning from vacation, he was surprised to find that his store did not carry the game. He placed a large order and within a year, "everyone had to have one." In 1952, unable to meet demand himself, Brunot sold manufacturing rights to Long Island-based Selchow and Righter (one of the manufacturers who, like Parker Brothers and Milton Bradley Company, had previously rejected the game). Selchow & Righter bought the trademark to the game in 1972 J. W. Spear & Sons began selling the game in Australia and the UK on January 19, 1955. They are now a subsidiary of Mattel, Inc. In 1986, Selchow and Righter sold the game to Coleco, who soon after went bankrupt. The company's assets, including Scrabble and Parchesi were purchased by Hasbro. In 1984, Scrabble was turned into a daytime game show on NBC. Scrabble ran from July 1984 to March 1990, with a second run from January to June 1993. The show was hosted by Chuck Woolery.
- In Great Britain in the 1920’s a game emerged using cardboard markers and tin bases which operated in the same manner as Stratego. The connection to this modern family game is not known, but it is believed to have inspired the creators of the popular family game. Diplomacy is a strategic board game created by Allan B. Calhamer in 1954 and released commercially in 1959. Its main distinction from most board wargames is negotiation: Players spend much of their time forming (and betraying) alliances with other players. Set in Europe just before the beginning of World War I, Diplomacy is played by seven players, each controlling the armed forces of a major European power. Each player aims to move his or her units - and defeat those of others - to win possession of a majority of strategic cities and provinces marked as "supply centers" on the map; these supply centers allow players who control them to produce more units. Diplomacy was the first commercially published game to be played by mail; only chess, which is in the public domain, saw significant postal play earlier. Diplomacy was also the first commercially published game to generate an active hobby with amateur fanzines; only science-fiction/fantasy and comics fandom saw fanzines earlier. Competitive face-to-face Diplomacy tournaments have been held since the 1970s. Play of Diplomacy by e-mail has been widespread since the early 1990s. Diplomacy has been published in the United States by Games Research, Avalon Hill, and Hasbro; the name is currently a registered trademark of Hasbro's Avalon Hill division. Diplomacy has also been licensed to various companies for publication in other countries. Diplomacy is also played on the world wide web, adjudicated by computer or by a human gamesmaster.
- Commanders at the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, California, use “dirt maps” to represent the terrain at hand. Shovels are used to transform an area of ground into a map of the battlefield. These impromptu sandtables may also be marked with colored powder to indicate the locations of snipers, minefields, and dangerous avenues of approach. The dirt maps are ideal devices for walking through battle plans with identifiable references to terrain features. These events also allow subordinates to repeat back their portion of the action to convince the commander that they understand their mission.
- Koenigspiel (meaning “King’s Game”) was invented in Ulm, Germany. Christopher Weikhmann based the game on standard chess, but with a larger board and players named after political and military positions. He maintained that it “was not designed to serve merely as a pastime but that it would furnish anyone who studied it properly a compendium of the most useful military and political principles.” Later historians contend that the game was just a “fancified and overcomplicated” version of chess. This game maintained the traditional chess board, but transformed the pieces into military figures.
- War Chess, invented by Dr. Helwig in 1780, was the first to incorporate three fundamental concepts of wargaming: aggregated unit markers, a multi-color game board representing terrain, and the use of an umpire to supervise the play of the game. The terrain included mountains (red squares), lakes and rivers (blue), marshes (light green), forests (dark green), open terrain (black and white), and buildings (half-red).
- In 1797 Georg Venturini improved upon earlier wargames by expanding the size to 3600 squares and specializing them to represent the French-Belgian border. This allowed more realistic training against a potentially real threat from a real country. The aggregate unit icons were also customized to represent the real forces of both sides.
- In 1811 Baron von Reisswitz further enhanced the gaming experience with Kriegsspiels (means “War Game”). Reisswitz employed contoured terrain on the playing board and small porcelain soldiers. This began the off shoot known as “Miniature Gaming”. von Reisswitz is also noted for inventing the idea of a unique scenario for each game. This defined unique objectives and specified the conditions under which a game could be won.
- American wargaming experienced a revival with the 2 volume publication entitled The American Kriegsspiel by William Livermore, of the Army Corps of Engineers, and Hugh Brown, and infantry Captain and Civil War veteran. They greatly reduced the amount of time to record changes in unit status by adding markings on the unit icons and markers for ammunition levels, fatigue, and task times. Livermore encouraged umpires to apply their professional judgment in deciding specific situations, rather than resorting to time consuming table look-ups, die rolls, and computations. Wargaming at that time was suffering from the excruciating amount of record keeping and long duration times for a game. One of Livermore’s primary objectives was to reduce this, make the game move faster, and make it more exciting to play. Lt. Charles A.L. Trotten criticized Livermore’s approach in his own 1880 book, Strategos: A Series of American Games of War Based upon Military Principles. Trotten invented game concepts that are used today. Like the stacking of units. However, much of Trotten’s uniquely American ideas were overcome by the American fascination with German ideas at the time. http://www.zoi.wordherders.net/?cat=11
- William McCarthy Little was responsible to the Navy’s deep involvement in wargaming. “ In embarking on this lecture I would like to say, by way of preface, that the name Game, War Game, has had much the same depreciating effect as the term Sham Fight has had with regard to field maneuvers. To avoid this the Army has had recourse to the expression Map Maneuver. We, of the Navy, may in like manner say Chart Maneuver, and we have lately decided to do so. There is a further reason why it is well for us to prefer that term, namely, that it accentuates the fact that the strategist’s real field of operations is the chart, just as the architect’s real field is the drawing board; indeed Jomini calls Strategy ‘War on the Map.’” William McCarthy Little, 1912
- The 1895 illustration of a wargame at the Naval War College shows the use of a large map board and ship icons surrounded by commanders and referees. That wargame was exploring the options for defending New York Harbor against an invasion by the British Navy. By 1914 the map board had grown large enough to allow players to walk about on top of it to place their assets and engage in combat. By 1947 the Naval War College had tiled an entire gymnasium in light and dark wooden grids to allow commanders to conduct wargames. These officers and referees are maneuvering ships and battle groups around the floor to practice specific strategies and tactics. The officers are also using a small simulator called a “maneuvering board”. These arcs of wood describe the turning radius of individual and groups of ships. They enforce the accurate representation of the time and space required to maneuver ships at sea.
- Both Fred Jane and Herbert Well’s developed early miniature games as an entertainment for hobbyists. Both also preferred to model combat through the use of working weapons. Jane created paper ship targets and “fired” small darts at them to determine whether and where a cannon hit occurred. Wells insisted that spring-loaded cannons be used to fire at enemy soldiers and equipment. These types of mechanisms have never been widely accepted in military wargaming. Rules for the Jane Naval War Game (S. Low, Marston, 1898) - The first published miniature wargame. A 26 page rule set limited to naval miniature battles. It came in a crate measuring 4 ft. X 4 ft. X 2 ft. Written by Fred Jane. As only a handful of these games survive, they are highly collectible. Little Wars (H.G. Wells, 1913) - The first popular published wargame rules. Includes the common miniature wargaming mechanics of dice rolling, range, line of sight, and moving in alternate turns. This game earned Wells the title "The Father of Miniature Wargaming". Miniature Wargames du temps de Napoleon (John Chandler, 1964) - First period-specific historical miniature wargame. Also the first in a long line of Napoleonic miniature wargames.
- Fredrick William Lanchester was a British engineer involved in the development of the aircraft, automobile, and concepts that would later be known as operations research. He was extremely prolific, publishing three to four papers each year and covering automobile and aeronautical engineering, radio mechanics, acoustics, relativity, and music. We remember his efforts to discover a scientific basis for understanding combat, especially engagement and attrition. It was (and is) common to assume that human experience and judgment are sufficient for understanding the intricacies and complexities of warfare, but Lanchester was looking for more mathematical techniques for studying combat. He published his ideas and equations in a paper in 1912 and again in 1916 as part of his book Aircraft in Warfare: The Dawn of the Fourth Arm. Lanchester’s name has become synonymous with equations of combat. In some circles the term “Lanchester Equations” can draw instant creditability or derision.
- In 1929 Eric von Manstein created a political game in which the Polish state invaded Germany. The players represented important members of the political and diplomatic communities. The Germans turned to wargaming more and more as they entered the 1930’s. Field Marshal von Blomberg organized high level games in the early 1930’s. Generaloberst Beck employed wargaming in 1936 to develop a new manual of tactics. In 1938 he also used a wargame to evaluate the idea of a German invasion of Czechoslovakia. The wargame predicted disaster. Captain Karl Doenitz conducted wargames on German submarine tactics to demonstrate and evaluate the idea of “wolfpack” operations against escorted convoys.
- Debord’s game also no doubt owes something to the tradition of chess variants that were popular throughout the 20th century, including the “Kriegsspiel” variant that John von Neumann famously enjoyed, in which play proceeds in a double blind manner (neither player is aware of the location and position of his opponent’s forces). Or else consider a 1933 Soviet military variant by A.S. Yurgelevich: “The game is played on a board of 128 squares, obtained by adding to all four sides of a regular eight by eight board a strip of two by eight (or eight by two) squares. Players have each twenty-four pieces: a headquarter, a bomber, a tank, two guns, two cavalry, two machine-guns, and fifteen soldiers.” http://www.zoi.wordherders.net/?cat=11
- Like the Germans, the Japanese used wargaming to evaluate different battle plans. They are known to have played out the attack on Pearl harbor and the Battle of Midway before deciding upon their plan and committing their assets. “Table-top Maneuvers” were part of the officer training curriculum at the Tokyo Naval War College.
- John von Neumann suggested that two-sided engagements could be cast in the form of a game in which each side has an expected pay off. If these payoffs are known, one can study the effects of each option on both sides. In practice there are few situations that can be reduced to the simplest form shown above. As a result Game Theory has evolved a large number of modifications that allow the study of more complex problems.
- The first computerized simulation was created in 1948 by the newly created Army Operations Research Office (ORO) at Johns Hopkins University. A team lead by R.P. Rich and Alfred Hausrath created an anonymous “air defense simulation” which they used to study North American air defense capabilities and naval anti-aircraft guided missile systems. This simulation operated on one of the first Univac computers. ORO also created the very first digital computer simulation - the Computerized Monte Carlo Simulation (CARMONETTE) in 1953. It represented a company or battalion sized battle in which units were able to Move, Prepare to Fire, and Fire. This simulation became operational in 1956 and was first used to study tank/anti-tank engagements. In 1960 CARMONETTE II gained the ability to represent infantry, followed by CARMONETTE III in 1966 with armed helicopter support and CARMONETTE IV which added communications and night vision effects. Note: In 1952 the Univac received world-wide recognition by predicting the presidential victory of Dwight D. Eisenhower over Adali Stevenson. Political analysts were betting on Stevenson, but the Univac extrapolated early election returns and concluded that Eisenhower would be a strong winner.
- Charles Roberts is the acknowledged father of the board wargaming community and industry that currently exists in America and extends to other countries. Roberts created the fundamental pieces of a wargame while awaiting his commission into the US Army. Several of the techniques he created were also created independently at the Rand Corp. at the same time. The idea of a Combat Results Table driven by die roll and surrounding conditions was invented by both parties. The idea of using a hex grid over the map was developed at Rand and adopted by Roberts. He had originally gridded the map with squares, but later saw a picture of the Rand map and its hex overlay. Recognizing the advantages of operating in six directions rather than four, Roberts modified his own games. In 1958 Roberts turned his hobby project into a company named Avalon Hill. They were one of the premiere gaming companies through the golden age of the hobby in the 1980’s. In 1998 Avalon Hill was acquired by Hasbro.
- Jim Dunnigan has always been a very outspoken champion of board wargaming. He has often asserted that wargames could be constructed quickly and at low cost to evaluate military plans and to train military staffs. These assertions landed a contract for the Strategic Analysis Simulation which was later played at the National Defense University.
- JANUS was derived directly from the older McClintic Theater Model (MTM) developed at the Army War College in 1977 by a team led by Fred McClintic. JANUS represents each vehicle on the battlefield and makes extensive use of probability of kill tables to adjudicate combat outcomes. Since events are largely driven by table data the simulation can incorporate new objects and aggregate units with little or no change to the software. Variations and enhancements of this system are found throughout the armed forces.
- This is the computer control room for a naval wargaming exercise in 1985 using the Naval Warfare Gaming System (NWGS). Most computerized wargames can trace their technique and approach for modeling the real world directly to board wargaming. The first computer wargames were merely direct translations of a paper wargame into software. Later, developers learned to take advantage of the computational and storage power provided by the computer.
- This is the model genealogy beginning in the early 1970’s and leading up to the current development of the members of the Joint Simulation System (JSIMS). The Joint Training Confederation (JTC) was an interoperability program that joined together several models that had originally been designed to operate independently. JSIMS is attempting to design the entire family to operate together from the beginning. Joining models after they are created has proven to provide only a very limited degree of interoperability. Each model has a specific representation of the world that allows it to share/export information in very limited ways. However, the JTC program proved that interoperability at this level is feasible.
- Modular Semi-Automated Forces (ModSAF) is a tool used to drive vehicles in a virtual level exercise. The system presents a 2D map referred to as a Plan View Display (PVD). One operator can use this and other tools to track the battle and control as many as 75 vehicles. The data generated by this system is transmitted on a network and allows individual tank simulators to display and fight against a large number of enemy forces. This provides a great reduction in cost since the opposing forces (OPFOR) does not have to be equipped with expensive tank simulators. Though ModSAF is usually used to drive virtual level simulations, it is itself a constructive level simulation. It does not use immersion in a synthetic environment to train the operator.
- The first interactive computer game was “Spacewar!”, developed in 1961 by a group of MIT computer students. The game was made possible by the appearance of the PDP-1 computer which provided computational power and a CRT screen (circular) for playing the game.
- Pong is a first generation video game released originally as a coin-operated arcade game by Atari Inc. on November 29, 1972. Pong is based on the sport of table tennis (or "ping pong"), and named after the sound generated by the circuitry when the ball is hit. The word Pong is a registered trademark of Atari Interactive, while the term "pong" is used to describe the genre of "bat and ball" video games. Contrary to popular belief, Pong was not the world's first video arcade game ( Computer Space , by Nutting Associates, was released in 1971). However, Pong was the first video game to achieve widespread popularity in both the arcade and home console markets, and it is credited with launching the initial boom in the video game industry. The popularity of Pong also led to a successful patent infringement lawsuit from the makers of an earlier video game for the Magnavox Odyssey. In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s pinball arcades were overcome with new electronic games like Space Invaders, Asteroids, Defender,Robotron, Space Castle, etc. etc. These games brought computers to the entertainment business one quarter at a time. Arcade owners were swamped with a new audience of young kids feeding hundreds of dollars into the machines every week. These games were the forerunners of the home computer game industry which is now a $2 billion/year business.
- Home game consoles became possible because of the drop in computer chip prices in the mid-1970’s. The Magnavox Odyssey system was the first to be sold commercially in 1972. That system was first conceived and designed by Nolan Bushnell at Sanders Electronics. The design of the machine and all of the game cards were licensed to Marnavox for production and distribution. Atari is famous for some of its early game innovations on the Atari 2600 machine. Most lasting of their game designs was Pong. It was Nintendo that created the mass market and mass hysteria that surrounded computer gaming in the 1980’s. Their Ninetndo Entertainment System could generate color graphics for games that were fun to play and addictive to young children. The NES system was followed by a host of others: Sega Genesis, Super NES, Atari Jaguar, Sega Saturn, Sony Playstation, Nintendo 64, and Sega Dreamcast. The Sony Playstation 2 and Ninteno Dolphin system have been announced for release in the near future.
- Immersive 3D games have been pushed into one of the leading forms of computer games by id Software. This company has specialized in the “3D shooter” for ten years and has created Hovertank, Wolfenstein 3D, DOOM, DOOM II, Quake, Quake II, and Quake III. 1996 Marine DOOM 1999 Team Fortress, Half-Life mod Google Video: Marine Doom (not YouTube) http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=marine+doom&emb=0&aq=f#
- Panzer General is turn-based, set on operational level hex maps. One plays lone scenarios from either Axis or Allied side and against a computer or human opponent. In Campaign Mode, the player assumes the role of a German general against the Allied computer. The basic design of the game shares some commonality with the popular Squad Leader board game series, with a wide variety of units available. Panzer General is an operational-level game, and units approximate battalions, although unit size and map scale from one scenario to the next are elastic. While the names and information for the units are reasonably accurate, the scenarios only approximate historical situations. Its novel feature was to link individual scenarios into a campaign spanning World War II from 1939 to 1945. Units are able to gain experience and become stronger, where success in one battle would award the player prestige to upgrade units, acquire additional units, and select a better scenario for the next battle. In 1996, Panzer General won the Origins Award for Best Military or Strategy Computer Game of 1995 . The game and its sequels spawned a loyal following, who have revived online head-to-head play and added many units, features, and over 2,500 scenarios. New ideas still in development over a decade after its initial release.
- The explosion of the Internet has created a corresponding explosion of online, networked, competitive computer gaming. Games that were once limited to a single player fighting computer controlled adversaries, now allow multiple players to compete with each other from all over the world. Most modern computer games now include a multi-player mode that allows the player to pit his skills against other players connected to the Internet. Each game company creates its own specialized solution for networked gaming. These competitive secrets do not allow multiple game to work together, but they do instantiate many of the principles discovered and created for military flight simulators and tanks in the Distributed Interactive Simulation community.
- A virtual world is a computer-based simulated environment intended for its users to inhabit and interact via avatars. These avatars are usually depicted as textual, two-dimensional, or three-dimensional graphical representations, although other forms are possible (auditory and touch sensations for example). Some, but not all, virtual worlds allow for multiple users. The computer accesses a computer-simulated world and presents perceptual stimuli to the user, who in turn can manipulate elements of the modeled world and thus experiences telepresence to a certain degree..Such modeled worlds may appear similar to the real world or instead depict fantasy worlds. The model world may simulate rules based on the real world or some hybrid fantasy world. Example rules are gravity, topography, locomotion, real-time actions, and communication. Communication between users has ranged from text, graphical icons, visual gesture, sound, and rarely, forms using touch and balance senses. Massively multiplayer online games commonly depict a world very similar to the real world, with real world rules and real-time actions, and communication. Communication is usually textual, with real-time voice communication using VOIP also possible. Virtual worlds are not limited to games but, depending on the degree of immediacy presented, can encompass computer conferencing and text based chatrooms. Sometimes, emoticons or 'smilies' are available, to show feeling or facial expression. Emoticons often have a keyboard shortcut. Maze War (also known as The Maze Game, Maze Wars or simply Maze) was the first networked, 3D multi-user first person shooter game. Maze first brought us the concept of online players as eyeball "avatars" chasing each other around in a maze.” (http://www.digibarn.com/history/04-VCF7-MazeWar/index.html, 29th Feb). According to the website this was in 1974, it was played on Arpanet (the initial internet), however it could only be played on an Imlac, as it was specifically built for this type of computer. Then in 1978 MUD was released, it however was not 3D, it was text-based and used a TELNET program, by following the link you will be able to play the game, and understand just how far virtual worlds have come since http://www.british-legends.com/. You can understandably argue whether or not this is a “virtual world” and that Maze War was more sophisticated (being 3D), but you must understand that MUD could be played by anyone, Maze War was computer specific. Perhaps in today’s senses it is not a true virtual world, but the idea of a virtual world in those days were different (see Neuromancer link in bibliography for more information). Some early prototypes were WorldsAway , a prototype interactive communities featuring a virtual world by CompuServe called Dreamscape , Cityspace, an educational networking and 3D computer graphics project for children, and The Palace , a 2-dimensional community driven virtual world. However, credit for the first online virtual world usually goes to Habitat , developed in 1987 by LucasFilm Games for the Commodore 64 computer, and running on the Quantum Link service (the precursor to America Online). In 1996, the city of Helsinki, Finland with Helsinki Telephone Company (since Elisa Group) launched what was called the first online virtual 3D depiction intended to map an entire city. The Virtual Helsinki project was eventually renamed Helsinki Arena 2000 project and parts of the city in modern and historical context were rendered in 3D. The first virtual worlds presented on the Internet were communities and chat rooms, some of which evolved into MUDs and MUSHes. MUDs, short for “Multi User Dungeons,” are examples of virtual worlds that consist of virtual space inhabited by representations of data and other users. Early virtual worlds were text-based, offering limited graphical representation, and often using a Command Line Interface.
- 3D Engine – presentation of simulated world Human User Interface – easy access and manipulation of the system AI – small and compact AI that can fit on a single processor Physical Models – Movement, Detection, Communication, Engagement, etc. Global Networking – on-demand connectivity among players around the world Persistent Worlds – larger context for small unit missions. Also a 3D portal for tactical and intelligence data Scenario Building – user creation of all aspects of a sim scenario Scripting Languages – user configuration of displays and modifications of characters in the virtual world
- Borgenicht, David (1998). Sesame Street unpaved . New York: Hyperion Publishing.
- Reader Rabbit is an edutainment software franchise created in 1986 by The Learning Company. This series currently makes up the greater part of a franchise of grade-based and subject-based titles, where the games for infancy through second grade feature Reader Rabbit. The games for third grade through sixth grade instead feature The ClueFinders, As one might presume, the first game in the series taught language arts, featuring a variety of simple games designed to teach schoolchildren basic reading and spelling skills. Originally, the title character's name was changed to reflect a change in subject, as with Math Rabbit , but it has apparently since been decided to retain the character's original name regardless of the subject area covered by a particular game. Carmen Sandiego refers to a media franchise of educational computer and video games, television programs, books and other media featuring Carmen Sandiego, a thieving villainess of the same name. The basic premise of the franchise has the user or protagonists being agents of the ACME Detective Agency, which attempts to thwart and capture V.I.L.E. ringleader and former ACME agent Carmen Sandiego. The series initially focused on teaching geography and history, though it later branched out into mathematics, English and other subjects. Originally distributed in the United States and Canada, most of the computer games are now available to international audiences. With the exception of Carmen Sandiego: Junior Detective Edition, all the games in the series are aimed at preteens, although the geography and history games are often difficult enough for adults since much of the trivia learned are not widely known. Many entries in the series contain elements of various genres, including mystery, comedy, science fiction, spy-fi and fantasy.
- In 1983 SGI programmer Gary Tarolli created a basic flight simulator that allowed the user to fly an aircraft on their workstations. This program became a successful marketing tool for demonstrations at trade shows, impressing clients, and selling more computers. The software was bundled for free with all SGI machines. However, many systems managers deleted the program because of the strain it put on their local networks when idle engineers were playing the game. The success of putting multiple desktop pilots in a virtual world lead to the addition of interactions between the two vehicles - the virtual dogfight. This exciting game only exacerbated the problems of the system administrator. In addition to aircraft interactions, the programmers learned the importance of dead reckoning techniques for reducing the amount of message traffic on the network. These ideas matured in later military systems like SIMNET and interoperability standards like Distributed Interactive Simulation.
- Harpoon is a realistic air and naval computer wargame based upon Larry Bond's miniatures game of the same name. A player can play one side: Blue or Red, in simulated naval combat situation, both local conflicts, as well as in Cold War confrontation between the Superpowers. Missions differ from small missile boat engagements to large oceanic battles with tens of vessels and hundreds of aircraft. The game also includes large database containing many types of real world ships, submarines, aircraft, and land defenses (i.e. air bases and ports). The simulation has a small but very dedicated fan base with several websites offering a varying style of scenarios and discussion forum. Often described as a 'niche within a niche market', development of the simulation has progressed steadily over the years in the face of the overwhelming numerical and graphical superiority of first-person shooter and real-time strategy games. AGSI, developers of Harpoon, currently distribute the simulation through Matrix games, with technical support being handled on a co-operative basis via AGSI and Matrix games employees. Harpoon was originally developed by Three-Sixty Pacific, and had several development paths and publishers, but now all computer rights rest with Advanced Gaming Systems. The game's development history is quite long and sometimes confusing, especially considering that there were two separate versions of the commercial game on the market, Harpoon Classic and Harpoon II (later Harpoon Commander's Edition and Harpoon 3 ANW respectively). There is a professional military version of Harpoon 3 ANW called Harpoon 3 Professional available for approved professional military customers. Harpoon's interface emphasizes technical accuracy over graphical polish, with simple 2D symbols reminiscent of a warship's radar display. There has been considerable debate in the game's user community about the decision of the developers to utilize 3D graphics in later versions of the program. As of May 2008, two releases are available to AGSI civilian customers. Harpoon Commanders Edition is an "introductory" offering based upon the game engines of the original series and Harpoon III ANW is the current civilian distillation of the product. Military customers are offered Harpoon III Pro , which is tailored for customer specifications. Development of both versions is ongoing, with ANW V3.8 released and V3.9 expected in Fall 2008. V4.0 is expected to undergo a graphical overhaul. Further development of the civilian variant will include a totally new user interface and improved graphics capability.
- MAK Technologies is a developer of DIS-based military simulations. They also sell a software products to manage the exchange of DIS exchange messages and a 3D viewer for DIS virtual environments. They have joined entered the computer gaming realm with the release of Spearhead, a 3D tank shooter game. The game obviously builds on their experience with distributed military simulation. Spearhead can be networked across multiple PC’s and uses an optimized form of the DIS PDU’s to communicate game data. MAK calls this optimized protocol “DIS-lite”.
- Activism A number of games have been created to make the world aware of situations like starvation, genocide, discrimination, pollution, and conservation. These games create an accessible and interactive story. Like advertisements, the engagement can capture people’s attention for significantly longer periods than traditional narration or printed stories. They convert statistics and data on the situation into realistic, interactive events that place the player in the position of the person at risk. This creates an empathy that cannot be matched in many other media. This application of games is not new. Hutchison (1997) reports on a game created by the Red Cross in 1920 to teach children how to reduce the chances of catching diseases. Examples of some of the new electronic games are: Darfur Is Dying: http://www.darfurisdying.com/ Food Force: http://www.food-force.com/ Politics Games have been used to convey political messages. These may be as simple as illustrating the dynamics of voting in Illinois or exploring the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians. In some cases, the game is designed to promote a specific point of view. In others it is meant to communicate multiple points of view so that a player can appreciate the difficulty of a situation. Peace Maker: http://www.peacemakergame.com/ Howard Dean for Iowa: http://www.deanforamerica.com/ Under Ash/Under Siege: http://www.underash.net/en_download.htm
- Religion Religious games are usually designed to communicate the core message of the religion and to take advantage of the long-duration contact that people put into games. It also animates historical information that can easily become rote or dull to an audience that has heard it many times over. Examples are: Left Behind: http://www.leftbehindgames.com/ Interactive Parables: http://www.interactiveparables.com/ Ominous Horizons: http://www.n-lightning.com/ominoushorizons.htm Catechumen: http://www.n-lightning.com/catechumen.htm
- America's Army (also known as AA or Army Game Project ) is a video game developed by the United States Army and released as a global public relations initiative to help with recruitment. The Army Game Project was conceived by Colonel Casey Wardynski and is managed by the U.S. Army's Office of Economic and Manpower Analysis (OEMA) at the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York. Wardynski envisioned "using computer game technology to provide the public a virtual Soldier experience that was engaging, informative and entertaining." The PC version 1.0, subtitled Recon , was first released on July 4, 2002. Since then, there have been over 25 versions released, the most recent being America's Army: Special Forces (Overmatch) v2.8.4. All versions have been developed on the Unreal Engine and use Evenbalance's PunkBuster technology to try and prevent cheating. The game is financed by the U.S. Government and distributed at no cost. The free Windows version can be downloaded on the Internet. Game discs are also distributed at U.S. Army recruiting centers and events. The Army Game Project originally partnered with the MOVES Institute at the Naval Postgraduate School to develop the game. Professor Michael Zyda, the director and founder of the MOVES Institute, acknowledged Counter-Strike as the model for the game. America's Army has ranked among the top ten online PC action games with almost 9.5 million registered players who have completed over 380 million missions from basic training to operations in the War on Terrorism. A Gamespot.com editor asserts "nothing beats going in and seeing what the Army really does...without actually having to do it." In recent years, America's Army has expanded to console versions for Xbox and Xbox 360, arcade and mobile applications published through licensing arrangements. The Game Project has "grown in ways its originators couldn't have imagined". Dozens of government training and simulation applications have been developed to train and educate U.S. Army Soldiers using the America's Army platform. The Game has also been used to deliver interactive, virtual Soldiering experiences to participants at events, such as air shows, amusement parks, sporting events around the country. Extensive article on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americas_army
- DARWARS is a research program intended to accelerate the development and deployment of military training systems. These are envisioned as low-cost, mobile, web-centric, simulation-based, “lightweight” systems designed to take advantage of the ubiquitous presence of the PC and of new technology, including multi-player games, virtual worlds, off-the-shelf PC simulations, intelligent agents, and on-line communities. DARWARS stands for “DARPA’s universal, persistent, on-demand, fill-in-your-own-adjective-here, training WARS,” although this formulation is rarely used. The project started in 2003. The program is producing an architectural framework, including a set of web services, tools, and system interface definitions that facilitate the development of networked training systems. The scalable framework supports training for individuals, teams, or teams of teams (involving students at PCs interacting on a virtual battlefield). Training systems keep track of student performance in order to offer individual and group feedback. The program envisions an on-line community of students, instructors and developers around the DARWARS family of training systems, although, realistically the creators only hoped to get this kind of training started - not see it to that complete end. DARWARS Ambush! DARWARS Ambush! is a PC-based, networked, multiplayer training simulator, or, serious game. It provides military training based on experiences of personnel in the field, and includes capabilities to ensure the capture and dissemination of lessons learned. The initial application involved road-convoy-operations training, while subsequent applications include training for platoon level mounted infantry tactics, dismounted infantry operations, Rules-of-Engagement training, cross-cultural communications training, and other areas. It's based on the technology of Operation Flashpoint . DARWARS Ambush! is generally restricted to U.S. Military and U.S. Government organizations and personnel. The DARWARS Ambush! software is free of charge. The costs of the underlying game engine and networking infrastructure is nominal compared to traditional simulation-training systems. The most important innovation of DARWARS Ambush! is that it is user-authorable. Soldiers themselves can create new scenarios and training in a few hours or days without a contractor between them and their tactics, techniques and procedures.
- Tactical Language & Culture Training System Tactical Language & Culture Training Systems are PC-based courses that teach foreign languages and cultural knowledge needed to conduct tasks effectively and safely during both daily life and military missions. They are self-paced foreign-language training programs that use numerous research-based pedagogic and technologic innovations — including interactive 3D video game simulations — to teach what to say, how to say it, and when to say it. The courses to learn Iraqi, Pashto, French, and Dari {under development} are available to any member of the U.S. Armed Forces by free download from the company's website.
- Full Spectrum Warrior is a real-time tactics video game. It was developed by Pandemic Studios and published by THQ. It was released on June 1, 2004 for the Xbox, September 21, 2004 for Windows and on March 23, 2005 for the PlayStation 2. The name Full Spectrum Warrior relates to the Army's program of training soldiers to be flexible and adaptable to a broad range of operational scenarios. The game was originally developed by Pandemic as a serious game training aid for the United States Army. The US Army also developed Full Spectrum Command with the Institute for Creative Technologies as a more strategy-oriented serious game intended for higher ranking military officers . Full Spectrum Command has not been released to the public. The game uses the Havok 2 physics engine, featuring realistic manipulation of objects in the game environment and ragdoll physics. Pandemic released a sequel, Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers , on March 27, 2006 in North America and June 23 in Europe. The game has been adapted by psychologists to assist veterans from Iraq overcome the effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. As of September 29th, 2008, the game has been released as a free download, sponsored by the United States Army.
- BiLAT was initially developed and ver 1.0 was deployed to SCP in 2006 Used successfully in several experiments/training sessions at Ft. Drum, Ft. Campbell, and Ft. Riley Current BiLAT version 2.1 includes: BiLAT game environment AIDE courseware module Train-the-Trainer Support Package (TTSP) Version 2.1 transitioned to PEO STRI during Fall 08 PEO STRI is fielding BiLAT as part of the “Games for Training” distribution plan
- PEO STRI is pleased to announce the award of Solicitation W900KK-08-R-0049 for Games After Ambush. This effort is a personal computer (PC) game based training solution, a first person shooter that leverages commercial or government off-the-shelf (COTS/GOTS) products. The total contract value is $17,751,569 for a one year basic and four one year options. https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&tab=core&id=ad25ae49d9eb462ac40cbb3abd60dbbc&_cview=0
- The ultimate goal of immersive simulation is best illustrated by the fantastic concept of a Holodeck as invented in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. This room is a computer driven virtual environment that can create realistic experiences of all sorts. It appears to be populated with thinking physical beings and has no discernable boundaries. Each simulation is crafted through a simple verbal descriptive interface that all crew members can use to create the worlds of their dreams. Supposedly, somewhere back at the manufacturer, brilliant computer programmers have created a re-programmable wonder that can take you to any world you can imagine and describe.
- Some More References: http://www.tradgames.org.uk/features/board-games.htm http://www.historicgames.com/gamestimeline.html http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/video/hov/ http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?groupid=2271&HistoryID=ac02 http://www.zoi.wordherders.net/?cat=11 Digital Illusion: Entertaining the Future with High Technology . Clark Dodsworth. "Don't Be a Vidiot: What Computer Game Designers Can Learn From Non-Electronic Games". Proceedings of the 1999 Game Developers Conference . Greg Costikyan. The Art of Computer Game Design . Chris Crawford. The Art of Wargaming . Peter Perla. The Wargames Handbook . Jim Dunnigan. Understanding Computers: The Military Frontier . Time-Life Books