Simulation/Adventure gaming is a very old hobby. Chess was invented in India around 300 AD as a teaching game for Princes. In 1822 the Prussian army began using war games with toy soldiers to train it's officers. In the 1890's HG Wells (author of "War of the Worlds") and Robert Louis Stevenson (author of "Treasure Island") began the modern miniatures gaming hobby. The 1950's saw the rise of military board games - the fore fathers of the modern computer game. During the 1970's fantasy role play games widely popularized the game hobby by using the psychotherapy tool "role playing" in a game. The game played in this group - a Matrix Game - is a variation on a game used by the British Army in the 1990's to plan their peace keeping missions in Bosnia.
The hobby of simulation gaming is world wide. Boys of all ages regularly meet to play games at store, clubs, conventions and on the computer internet. Gamers include many married men, employed as doctors, lawyers, social workers and more. Even Presidents have played games. (President John F Kennedy played board games in the White House to relax.)
People wishing to know more about games can find information on the on the computer internet or by visiting a local game store.
SIMULATION GAMES AS A LEARNING TOOL
This group is focused on teaching social skills to teenage boys so they can be more successful in life. It uses games as a testing ground for players to try out what they learn in a safe environment.
Education simulations is widely used in higher education (primarily Business Schools) and has been found to be a powerful teaching tool. What games do best is to show the players the process of how decisions are made so that they can do it for themselves in real life.
This group uses war games. On the surface this might seem odd. Why use a military game to teach social skills. The reason is two fold. 1. Adolescent boys love playing with toy soldiers. The game harnesses this energy. 2. Conflict situations push social rules to their extremes, which perfectly illustrate the skill lessons.
Along the way some players become fascinated with history. Game playing thus whets their appetite for other areas of study.
Back to Table of Contents -- Matrix Gamer #26
To Matrix Gamer List of Issues
To MagWeb Master Magazine List
© Copyright 2001 by Chris Engle.
This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com