A Proposal to Model Wargames in the MDA Framework
Resumo
This work aims to define meaningful actions that players can take in a wargame. Starting from the premise that wargames are (serious) games, we wondered if a wargame and its actions could be well modeled as a game. We looked at formal approaches and decided to model wargames in MDA since this framework analyzes the actions in games as mechanics or dynamics. The proposed model links emotions with instincts that may arouse in players with mechanics and dynamics from wargames. Afterward, we indirectly evaluated the model through a survey among wargames experts. Although most research participants agree with the suitability of the proposed mechanics and dynamic, they suggested other actions that players could perform in wargames. The model matched most emotions and instincts selected by the participants and the results allowed us to improve the model mainly in mechanics and dynamics. An important contribution of this work is to recognize the emotions and instincts that are triggered by the dynamics and mechanics of wargames. The participants’ answers on instincts agree with our understanding from the literature, but their answers on emotions contradict some views on wargames. Many participants indicated that wargames can evoke fear, anger and sadness, but wargames have limitations to arouse these emotions in players. Most military see wargames primarily as training activities. However, few participants find enjoyment in wargames.
Palavras-chave:
wargames, serious games, MDA, mechanics, dynamics, aesthetics
Referências
P. Perla, The Art of Wargaming: A Guide for Professionals and Hobbyists.Naval Institute Press, 1990.
J. Elg, “Wargaming in military education for army officers and officer cadets,” Ph.D. dissertation, King’s College London, 2017.
P. P. Perla and M. C. Markowitz, “Wargaming strategic linkage,” Center for Naval Analyses (CNA) Alexandria VA, Tech. Rep., January 2009.
R. Hunicke, M. LeBlanc, and R. Zubek, “Mda: A formal approach to game design and game research,” in Proceedings of the AAAI Workshop on Challenges in Game AI, vol. 4. AAAI Press San Jose, CA, 2004, pp. 1–5.
G. Longley-Brown, “What is wargaming and why do it?” Professional Wargaming, 2012. [Online]. Available: [link].
J. F. Dunnigan, The Complete Wargames Handbook: How to play, design, and find them. William Morrow & Co., Inc., 1997, 2005.
P. Sabin, Simulating war: Studying conflict through simulation games. Continuum, 2012.
P. Sabin, “Wargaming in higher education: Contributions and challenges,”Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 329–348, 2015.
R. Blunt, “Does game-based learning work? results from three recent studies,” in Proceedings of the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation, & Education Conference. National Defense Industrial Association Orlando, 2007, pp. 945–955.
A. Haggman, “Cyber wargaming: Finding, designing, and playing wargames for cyber security education,” Ph.D. dissertation, Royal Holloway, University of London, 2019.
R. Dillon, “Serious games and fun: an analysis,” International Journal of Innovative Research and Development, vol. 2, no. 5, 2013.
D. R. Michael and S. L. Chen, Serious games: Games that educate, train, and inform. Muska & Lipman/Premier-Trade, 2005.
J. Breuer and G. Bente, “Why so serious? on the relation of serious games and learning,” Journal for Computer Game Culture, vol. 4 (1), pp. 7–24, 2010.
Y. H. Wong, S. J. Bae, E. M. Bartels, and B. Smith, Next-Generation Wargaming for the US Marine Corps: Recommended Courses of Action. RAND Corporation, 2019.
A. Järvinen, Games without frontiers: Theories and methods for game studies and design. Tampere University Press, 2008.
J. Schell, The Art of Game Design: A book of lenses. CRC press, 2008.
R. Dillon, On the Way to Fun: an emotion-based approach to successful game design. CRC Press, 2010.
G. P. Kusuma, E. K. Wigati, Y. Utomo, and L. K. P. Suryapranata, “Analysis of gamification models in education using mda framework,” Procedia Computer Science, vol. 135, pp. 385–392, 2018.
L. S. Pereira and S. Fragoso, “FCECF: um método iterativo composto aplicado ao desenvolvimento de jogos analógicos,” in XV Brazilian Symposium on Computer Games and Digital Entertainment. São Paulo,SP, Brazil: SBC, 2016, pp. 478–486.
G. Zaffari and A. L. Battaiola, “Integração do processo industrial de design de jogos com o modelo mda,” in XIII Brazilian Symposium on Computer Games and Digital Entertainment. Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil: SBC, 2014, pp. 1042–1050.
J. Kritz, E. Mangeli, and G. Xexéo, “Building an ontology of boardgame mechanics based on the boardgamegeek database and the mda framework,” in XVI Brazilian Symposium on Computer Games and Digital Entertainment. Curitiba, PR, Brazil: SBC, 2017, pp. 182–191.
S. Lundgren, K. Bergström, and S. Björk, “Exploring aesthetic ideals of gameplay.” in DiGRA Conference, 2009.
B. de Souza, A. Doreste, G. Xexéo, and C. Reis, “Utilizando o framework mda para avaliar a estética de um jogo: Um estudo preliminar sobre a percepção de estudantes de graduação,” in XVII Brazilian Symposium on Computer Games and Digital Entertainment. Foz do Iguaçu, PR, Brazil: SBC, 2018, pp. 348–351.
L. C. S. Duarte and T. S. Uhlmann, “The role of wargames in the development of game design,” in XVI Brazilian Symposium on Computer Games and Digital Entertainment. Curitiba, PR, Brazil: SBC, 2017, pp. 135–140.
J. J. Arias and C. O. Klay, “Insurgent uprising: An unconventional warfare wargame,” Master’s thesis, Naval Postgraduate School Monterey CA United States, December 2017.
D. Bowley and S. Lovaszy, “Use of combat simulations and wargames in analytical studies,” in Proceedings of SimTecT, vol. 99, 1999.
S. E. Goehring, “Wargaming and operational art - how do we increase our practical experience level?” Naval War College, Tech. Rep., May 2003, unclassified.
J. T. Hanley Jr, “Planning for the kamikazes: toward a theory and practice of repeated operational games,” Naval War College Review, vol. 70, no. 2, pp. 29–48, 2017.
C. R. Kanipe and D. W. Yeo, “A wargame for introducing cybersecurity considerations to first-year engineering students,” in AIAA Scitech 2019 Forum, 2019, p. 0066.
H. Lantto, “Wargaming cyberwar in network-centric critical infrastructure defence,” Critical Infrastructure Protection Against Cyber Threats, vol. 1, no. 36, pp. 19–36, 2014.
H. Lantto, B. A° kesson, M. Suojanen, T. Tuukkanen, S. Huopio, J.- P. Nikkarila, and M. Ristolainen, “Wargaming the cyber resilience of structurally and technologically different networks,” Security and Defence Quarterly, vol. 24, no. 2, pp. 51–64, 2019.
R. McCreight, “Scenario development: using geopolitical wargames and strategic simulations,” Environment Systems & Decisions, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 21–32, dec 2012.
K. Mueller, “Paper wargames and policy making: Filling the baltic gap or how i learned to stop worrying and love the d6,” Battle Magazine, no. 11, pp. 53–57, october 2016.
P. Perla and M. Markowitz, “Conversations with wargamers,” Center for Naval Analyses (CNA) Alexandria VA, Tech. Rep., January 2009.
D. Shlapak and M. Johnson, Reinforcing Deterrence on NATO's Eastern Flank: Wargaming the Defense of the Baltics. RAND Corporation, 2016.
S. Yildirim, “Serious game design for military training,” in Games: Design and Research Conference, Volda University College, 2010, pp. 3–4.
P. Ekman, “What scientists who study emotion agree about,” Perspectives on Psychological Science, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 31–34, 2016.
B. Weiner and S. Graham, “An attributional approach to emotional development,” Emotions, cognition, and behavior, pp. 167–191, 1984.
T. Dalgleish and M. Power, Handbook of Cognition and Emotion. John Wiley & Sons, 2000.
P. Ekman, “Universal emotions,” Paul Ekman Group, September 2019, https://www.paulekman.com/universal-emotions/ [Accessed: 10- Mar-2020].
P. Ekman, “Atlas of emotions,” Paul Ekman Group, 2016, http://atlasofemotions.org [Accessed: 10-Mar-2020].
R. Dillon, “The 6-11 framework: A new methodology for game analysis and design,” in Proceedings Game-On Asia Conference, Singapore, 2011, pp. 25–29.
P. Perla, “Design development and play of navy wargames,” Center for Naval Analyses, Tech. Rep., March 1987, unclassified.
B. J. Wilkes, “Silver flag: A concept for operational warfare,” Air & Space Power Journal, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 47–56, 2001.
P. K. Davis, “Illustrating a model-game-model paradigm for using human wargames in analysis,” RAND Corporation, Tech. Rep., 2017.
S. Kainikara, “Effective wargaming: Impact of the changing nature of warfare,” Royal Australian Air Force - Air Power Development Centre,Tech. Rep., october 2003.
P. Perla and E. McGrady, “Why wargaming works,” Naval War College Review, vol. 64, no. 3, pp. 111–130, 2011.
M. L. Herman and M. D. Frost, Wargaming for leaders: Strategic decision making from the battlefield to the boardroom. McGraw Hill Professional, 2008.
S. Naidamast, “The war game and understanding complex application development,” JAXenter, Jun. 2016. [Online]. Available: [link].
H. Freitas, M. Oliveira, A. Z. Saccol, and J. Moscarola, “O método de pesquisa survey,” Revista de Administração da Universidade de São Paulo, vol. 35, no. 3, 2000.
J. R. Boyd, “The essence of winning and losing,” Unpublished lecture notes, vol. 12, no. 23, pp. 123–125, 1996.
R. Koster, Theory of fun for game design. O’Reilly Media, Inc., 2013.
B. Upton, The Aesthetic of Play, 1st ed. MIT Press, 4 2015.
R. Caillois, Man, Play, and Games. Thames & Hudson, 1961.
J. Elg, “Wargaming in military education for army officers and officer cadets,” Ph.D. dissertation, King’s College London, 2017.
P. P. Perla and M. C. Markowitz, “Wargaming strategic linkage,” Center for Naval Analyses (CNA) Alexandria VA, Tech. Rep., January 2009.
R. Hunicke, M. LeBlanc, and R. Zubek, “Mda: A formal approach to game design and game research,” in Proceedings of the AAAI Workshop on Challenges in Game AI, vol. 4. AAAI Press San Jose, CA, 2004, pp. 1–5.
G. Longley-Brown, “What is wargaming and why do it?” Professional Wargaming, 2012. [Online]. Available: [link].
J. F. Dunnigan, The Complete Wargames Handbook: How to play, design, and find them. William Morrow & Co., Inc., 1997, 2005.
P. Sabin, Simulating war: Studying conflict through simulation games. Continuum, 2012.
P. Sabin, “Wargaming in higher education: Contributions and challenges,”Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 329–348, 2015.
R. Blunt, “Does game-based learning work? results from three recent studies,” in Proceedings of the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation, & Education Conference. National Defense Industrial Association Orlando, 2007, pp. 945–955.
A. Haggman, “Cyber wargaming: Finding, designing, and playing wargames for cyber security education,” Ph.D. dissertation, Royal Holloway, University of London, 2019.
R. Dillon, “Serious games and fun: an analysis,” International Journal of Innovative Research and Development, vol. 2, no. 5, 2013.
D. R. Michael and S. L. Chen, Serious games: Games that educate, train, and inform. Muska & Lipman/Premier-Trade, 2005.
J. Breuer and G. Bente, “Why so serious? on the relation of serious games and learning,” Journal for Computer Game Culture, vol. 4 (1), pp. 7–24, 2010.
Y. H. Wong, S. J. Bae, E. M. Bartels, and B. Smith, Next-Generation Wargaming for the US Marine Corps: Recommended Courses of Action. RAND Corporation, 2019.
A. Järvinen, Games without frontiers: Theories and methods for game studies and design. Tampere University Press, 2008.
J. Schell, The Art of Game Design: A book of lenses. CRC press, 2008.
R. Dillon, On the Way to Fun: an emotion-based approach to successful game design. CRC Press, 2010.
G. P. Kusuma, E. K. Wigati, Y. Utomo, and L. K. P. Suryapranata, “Analysis of gamification models in education using mda framework,” Procedia Computer Science, vol. 135, pp. 385–392, 2018.
L. S. Pereira and S. Fragoso, “FCECF: um método iterativo composto aplicado ao desenvolvimento de jogos analógicos,” in XV Brazilian Symposium on Computer Games and Digital Entertainment. São Paulo,SP, Brazil: SBC, 2016, pp. 478–486.
G. Zaffari and A. L. Battaiola, “Integração do processo industrial de design de jogos com o modelo mda,” in XIII Brazilian Symposium on Computer Games and Digital Entertainment. Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil: SBC, 2014, pp. 1042–1050.
J. Kritz, E. Mangeli, and G. Xexéo, “Building an ontology of boardgame mechanics based on the boardgamegeek database and the mda framework,” in XVI Brazilian Symposium on Computer Games and Digital Entertainment. Curitiba, PR, Brazil: SBC, 2017, pp. 182–191.
S. Lundgren, K. Bergström, and S. Björk, “Exploring aesthetic ideals of gameplay.” in DiGRA Conference, 2009.
B. de Souza, A. Doreste, G. Xexéo, and C. Reis, “Utilizando o framework mda para avaliar a estética de um jogo: Um estudo preliminar sobre a percepção de estudantes de graduação,” in XVII Brazilian Symposium on Computer Games and Digital Entertainment. Foz do Iguaçu, PR, Brazil: SBC, 2018, pp. 348–351.
L. C. S. Duarte and T. S. Uhlmann, “The role of wargames in the development of game design,” in XVI Brazilian Symposium on Computer Games and Digital Entertainment. Curitiba, PR, Brazil: SBC, 2017, pp. 135–140.
J. J. Arias and C. O. Klay, “Insurgent uprising: An unconventional warfare wargame,” Master’s thesis, Naval Postgraduate School Monterey CA United States, December 2017.
D. Bowley and S. Lovaszy, “Use of combat simulations and wargames in analytical studies,” in Proceedings of SimTecT, vol. 99, 1999.
S. E. Goehring, “Wargaming and operational art - how do we increase our practical experience level?” Naval War College, Tech. Rep., May 2003, unclassified.
J. T. Hanley Jr, “Planning for the kamikazes: toward a theory and practice of repeated operational games,” Naval War College Review, vol. 70, no. 2, pp. 29–48, 2017.
C. R. Kanipe and D. W. Yeo, “A wargame for introducing cybersecurity considerations to first-year engineering students,” in AIAA Scitech 2019 Forum, 2019, p. 0066.
H. Lantto, “Wargaming cyberwar in network-centric critical infrastructure defence,” Critical Infrastructure Protection Against Cyber Threats, vol. 1, no. 36, pp. 19–36, 2014.
H. Lantto, B. A° kesson, M. Suojanen, T. Tuukkanen, S. Huopio, J.- P. Nikkarila, and M. Ristolainen, “Wargaming the cyber resilience of structurally and technologically different networks,” Security and Defence Quarterly, vol. 24, no. 2, pp. 51–64, 2019.
R. McCreight, “Scenario development: using geopolitical wargames and strategic simulations,” Environment Systems & Decisions, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 21–32, dec 2012.
K. Mueller, “Paper wargames and policy making: Filling the baltic gap or how i learned to stop worrying and love the d6,” Battle Magazine, no. 11, pp. 53–57, october 2016.
P. Perla and M. Markowitz, “Conversations with wargamers,” Center for Naval Analyses (CNA) Alexandria VA, Tech. Rep., January 2009.
D. Shlapak and M. Johnson, Reinforcing Deterrence on NATO's Eastern Flank: Wargaming the Defense of the Baltics. RAND Corporation, 2016.
S. Yildirim, “Serious game design for military training,” in Games: Design and Research Conference, Volda University College, 2010, pp. 3–4.
P. Ekman, “What scientists who study emotion agree about,” Perspectives on Psychological Science, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 31–34, 2016.
B. Weiner and S. Graham, “An attributional approach to emotional development,” Emotions, cognition, and behavior, pp. 167–191, 1984.
T. Dalgleish and M. Power, Handbook of Cognition and Emotion. John Wiley & Sons, 2000.
P. Ekman, “Universal emotions,” Paul Ekman Group, September 2019, https://www.paulekman.com/universal-emotions/ [Accessed: 10- Mar-2020].
P. Ekman, “Atlas of emotions,” Paul Ekman Group, 2016, http://atlasofemotions.org [Accessed: 10-Mar-2020].
R. Dillon, “The 6-11 framework: A new methodology for game analysis and design,” in Proceedings Game-On Asia Conference, Singapore, 2011, pp. 25–29.
P. Perla, “Design development and play of navy wargames,” Center for Naval Analyses, Tech. Rep., March 1987, unclassified.
B. J. Wilkes, “Silver flag: A concept for operational warfare,” Air & Space Power Journal, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 47–56, 2001.
P. K. Davis, “Illustrating a model-game-model paradigm for using human wargames in analysis,” RAND Corporation, Tech. Rep., 2017.
S. Kainikara, “Effective wargaming: Impact of the changing nature of warfare,” Royal Australian Air Force - Air Power Development Centre,Tech. Rep., october 2003.
P. Perla and E. McGrady, “Why wargaming works,” Naval War College Review, vol. 64, no. 3, pp. 111–130, 2011.
M. L. Herman and M. D. Frost, Wargaming for leaders: Strategic decision making from the battlefield to the boardroom. McGraw Hill Professional, 2008.
S. Naidamast, “The war game and understanding complex application development,” JAXenter, Jun. 2016. [Online]. Available: [link].
H. Freitas, M. Oliveira, A. Z. Saccol, and J. Moscarola, “O método de pesquisa survey,” Revista de Administração da Universidade de São Paulo, vol. 35, no. 3, 2000.
J. R. Boyd, “The essence of winning and losing,” Unpublished lecture notes, vol. 12, no. 23, pp. 123–125, 1996.
R. Koster, Theory of fun for game design. O’Reilly Media, Inc., 2013.
B. Upton, The Aesthetic of Play, 1st ed. MIT Press, 4 2015.
R. Caillois, Man, Play, and Games. Thames & Hudson, 1961.
Publicado
18/10/2021
Como Citar
OURIQUES, Leandro; XEXÉO, Geraldo; BARBOSA, Carlos Eduardo.
A Proposal to Model Wargames in the MDA Framework. In: TRILHA DE ARTES & DESIGN – ARTIGOS COMPLETOS - SIMPÓSIO BRASILEIRO DE JOGOS E ENTRETENIMENTO DIGITAL (SBGAMES), 20. , 2021, Online.
Anais [...].
Porto Alegre: Sociedade Brasileira de Computação,
2021
.
p. 1-9.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/sbgames_estendido.2021.19619.
