Why immersion — and not realism — is critical for wargaming
Mar 21, 2025
auto_awesome
David Banks, a senior lecturer in wargaming at King's College London, sheds light on the intricate balance between realism and engagement in game design. He argues that understanding immersion is critical for effective learning. The discussion dives into the historical evolution of wargaming, contemporary research challenges, and scenarios like Taiwan's recognition that influence foreign policy. Banks emphasizes the need for robust evaluation frameworks and transparency in game outcomes while acknowledging subconscious biases that can skew decision-making.
Immersion in wargaming enhances engagement, promoting authentic decision-making and a deeper understanding of real-world scenarios.
The need for rigorous evaluation frameworks in wargaming is vital to validate outcomes and establish success metrics for future research.
Current innovations in wargaming methodologies aim to refine gameplay design and integrate academic research with practical strategic applications.
Deep dives
David Banks' Background in Wargaming
David Banks serves as a senior lecturer in the War Studies Department at King's College London, specializing in wargaming. His journey into this field stemmed from his background in international relations and his interest in using wargames as educational tools within his classroom to illustrate political dynamics. His involvement deepened when he collaborated with professionals on a cybersecurity research project, wherein he designed games to study complex issues. As a result, his focus shifted toward evaluating wargaming methodologies to improve their effectiveness and produce reliable data.
Evolution of Wargaming as an Academic Discipline
Wargaming has a rich history as a decision-making practice, yet it is still developing as an academic discipline. Although it has been utilized in military contexts for over 200 years, Banks emphasizes the need for more rigorous evaluation frameworks to validate wargaming outcomes. He highlights the challenge of establishing a standardized academic foundation for wargaming, which complicates the understanding of its methodologies and effectiveness. This ongoing evolution reflects a broader gap in academic literature, suggesting that there is immense potential for future research and development in this area.
The Role of Engagement in Wargaming
Engagement, or immersion, plays a crucial role in the effectiveness of wargaming as a learning and decision-making tool. Banks posits that when participants are emotionally invested in the game, they are more likely to make authentic decisions that reflect real-world behaviors. This immersion facilitates a deeper understanding of the strategic dynamics at play, allowing participants to navigate complex scenarios and outcomes. Therefore, designing games that are both educational and engaging is essential to harness their full potential in teaching and analysis.
Challenges in Evaluating Wargaming Effectiveness
Evaluating the effectiveness of wargaming remains a significant challenge, particularly regarding understanding its true impact on decision-making. Banks notes the complexities involved in discerning whether the outcomes of a game reflect real-world scenarios or are artifacts of the game design itself. It is essential to establish clear metrics for what constitutes success in wargaming to avoid misinterpretation of results. Recent studies aim to address these gaps by rigorously examining learning outcomes and decision-making processes fostered through wargaming.
Future Directions in Wargaming Research and Development
The landscape of wargaming research is rapidly evolving, presenting numerous opportunities for innovative inquiry and practical applications. Banks and his colleagues are actively involved in multiple projects aimed at refining wargaming methodologies, enhancing gameplay design, and establishing robust evaluative measures. One particularly exciting project involves creating games to model scenarios set in the near future, considering geopolitical tensions and decision-making complexities. Such initiatives indicate a shift toward integrating academic research with practical applications in defense and strategy, paving the way for enhanced understanding and use of wargaming.
Despite centuries of experience designing and playing war games, there is still very little rigorous research on how to evaluate what makes a good game. What’s the design goal? How much should (or even can) a game reflect reality? Are tighter or looser rules more likely to lead to productive learning? Is having fun important? That lack of rigorous analysis has historically stymied the wargaming profession, but a new generation of researchers want to push the field forward.
Today, with both Danny Crichton and Laurence Pevsner on vacation, we bring back our independent Riskgaming designer Ian Curtiss to host David Banks. David is senior lecturer in wargaming at the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, where his research focuses on the empirical evaluation of war games and how the craft can evolve in the years ahead. He is also the academic director of the King’s Wargaming Network.
Ian and David discuss the antecedents of wargaming, firming up the foundations of the field, why realism isn’t as useful a metric as engagement, why balancing play and realism is so challenging, how to consider internal validity in games and why its important not just to evaluate a game as a whole, but also its constituent parts.
