Games: Toys or Tools?

[Erwin]

Good article by Michael Peck who writes a lot about serious sims and games and their potential uses by DoD.

http://www.tsjonline.com/story.php?F=8413836

[Frankster65]

Very interesting indeed.

[abneo3sierra]

I think that the primary value of it as a "tool" is to train the mind to think out a tactical problem. The key there would be figuring out how to solve the problem, and not necessarily being " this is how we would solve in the real world" although SOME games also give at least a little of that angle as well. Even if your solution to the tactical problem would NOT work in the real world, it is still good training to make you think what will work in the game,and to have your mind able to adapt and adjust to the specific rules of your specific situation, and find a solution.

[Sakai007]

I agree with you abneo, and to expand on that, I think their ability to teach actual combat tactics is minimal. No game can ever duplicate the stress of being under fire and try to command men who are likewise stressed. The training of the brain to make solid, basic, combat related decisions in a timely manner is the real benefit from games like this. Specific situations in combat will always have different variables then the situations used in training.

It like muscle memory in a sense. I remember being trained to move the selector switch on the M4 from safe to semi every single time I raised the rifle to my shoulder. After you have done this 1000 times, you do it without thought. When you have your unit get ambushed in a game, and you respond by sending your soldiers to assault the ambushers 1000 times, it becomes a natural act like breathing. This is the benefit, knowing what to do during high stress encounters from having done it 1000 times already.