Malign: A Tabletop Game for Information Operations Practitioners

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association.

During this episode, Sebastian Bae discusses games in a national security context. Games help leaders understand decisions and consequences in a synthetic environment. Sebastian also describes his newest game, Malign, which is designed in collaboration with NATO's Hybrid Center of Excellence for college students, foreign service officers, and policy makers to better understand the power of misinformation and malign influence.

Research Questions:

• Sebastian suggests to an interested student investigate how we measure or assess educational progress relative to gaming? How does the synthetic experience of games change depending upon the medium being used, for example: table top versus digital versus AR versus VR, etc.

Resources:

• Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned
  • #140 Tom Ferris on Cognitive Ergonomics
• Sebastian's Georgetown Page
• Sebastian's CNA Page
• NATO's Hybrid Center of Excellence
• Game: Littoral Commander: Indo-Pacific
• Emily Yoder's YouTube presentation on Malign
• Georgetown University Wargaming Society
• Leeroy Jenkins Youtube
• You Said This Would Be Fun: What makes a game good and how to make a good game by Jeff Warrender
• On Operations: Operational Art and Military Disciplines by B. A. Friedman

Link to full show notes and resources

https://information-professionals.org/episode/cognitive-crucible-episode-146

Guest Bio:

Sebastian J. Bae's work principally focuses on wargaming, emerging technologies, the future of warfare, and strategy and doctrine for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps.

In addition to his work at CNA, Bae serves as an adjunct assistant professor at the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University, where he teaches a graduate course on designing educational wargames. He has taught similar courses at the U.S. Naval Academy and U.S. Marine Corps Command and Staff College. He is also the faculty advisor to the Georgetown University Wargaming Society, the co-chair of the Military Operations Research Society Wargaming Community of Practice, and a nonresident fellow at the Brute Krulak Center for Innovation and Creativity.

Before joining CNA, he served six years in the Marine Corps infantry, leaving as a sergeant. He deployed to Iraq in 2009.

Bae received a Master of Arts in security studies from Georgetown University and a Bachelor of Arts in peace and conflict studies from the University of California, Berkeley.

About: The Information Professionals Association (IPA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain.

For more information, please contact us at communications@information-professionals.org.

Or, connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell, on LinkedIn.

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