Connections 2000

Convention Report
Montgomery, AL (USA)

Introduction

by Russ Lockwood


Connections 2000 is an invitation-only conference featuring a mix of military officers specializing in war simulations and commercial wargame designers. Held at Maxwell Air Force Base, the goal was to exchange ideas concerning a meld between the oft-ponderous and dull reality of military simulations with the flash and speed of commercial wargames. Connections 2000 featured an impressive list of speakers, a "game" night for the National Security Decision Making game, and a "demo" night for companies to showcase their products. Overall, it succeeded wonderfully, for processes, procedures, and other ideas flowed freely, not only in the lectures, but across lunch and dinner tables, at formal functions, and especially in impromtu get togethers.

Of note are the marvelous lectures. I took notes as much as possible, but note that I did not attend every lecture, seminar, and panel discussion. For example, during demo night, I was busy running the MagWeb.com demo. As a result, I did not attend a single lecture that night. At other times, I was deep in discussion with other participants and found time to pass by quickly and thus missed other lectures.

However, what you have here is a snapshot in time of the entire conference, fitted with broad frameworks in some cases, and detailed minutae in others.

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