Focus on... Wargaming
Focus on... Wargaming
Focus on... Wargaming
By Thomas Ackland
November 08, 2020
Summary
Wargaming is a rather interesting sector within the world of games, primarily due to its widespread use as both a recreational activity played amongst friends and peers or as a professional tool to be used to train tactical thinking and decision making within military personal looking to take on a commanding role.
Now it's all well and good to sing the praises of these games but we need to first understand what Wargaming is all about before we dive into who uses them and why they're popular with different audiences.
Humans have been playing games that simulate the idea of military strategy with game pieces representing their forces for a very long time, with games such as Go and Chess being usually the first games that spring to mind when someone typically thinks about strategy games.
According to the Historical Miniatures Gaming Society, we know that most of the Wargames that would see use within a military setting evolved from these aforementioned games.
These changes included; the introduction of game pieces that represented units of troops which could take a set amount of damage, their actions are represented by dice rolls and can't be moved by the players themselves, Topologic maps that featured real locations and more natural terrain and finally the introduction of an umpire, an impartial and experienced military officer who interprets and carries out the orders of the players by carrying out the dice rolls and managing the positions of the players troops.
Although most Wargames are made with the intent of being used to assist with training military personnel, there is a huge market within the civilian market for these types of games.
Being a professional civilian and having grown up playing a wide array of games, I can definitely think of some reasons for why these games would be appealing to the average joe.
Firstly, depending on the game's historical setting, they can offer the players the opportunity to learn more about the history behind the events that are being represented within the game.
Aside from points that are fairly similar to why these games are popular with the civilian audience, the main thing that must be considered when utilising these games would be the type of training you wish to support and choosing the right type of games to support that kind of experience you wish to provide to your employees.
To wrap everything up, Wargaming is a very unique beast within the gaming world that is enjoyed for reasons that change depending on the audience that plays them, be it a tool for training the commanding skills of military personnel, a potential means of testing and training the decision making capabilities of the workforce of commercial businesses, or as an intellectually entertaining way to kill some time with friends and family.
Reference
Ackland, T. (2020, November 08). Focus on... Wargaming. Retrieved November 22, 2020, from https://www.ludogogy.co.uk/focus-on-wargaming/