Wargaming with Pacific Partners

Track 1: Wargame design. This track will help novice game designers learn about what games are, how they are used, and how to construct them. It will be a “mini-course” on beginning game design. We will include exercises, including participating in games to illustrate key points in the material. 

Track 2: Special topics. As Picasso said when armatures get together, they talk about art, when professionals get together, they talk about where to buy cheap paint. This track will focus on topics of interest to senior level designers, though the material will be appropriate for any level of experience. Specific topics would include:

• Gaming with partners and allies. There are specific issues associated with designing and running games in a multi-lateral environment. These range from how to deal with translators to how to ensure that the game design and scenario are properly socialized. This session will be conducted by senior game designers with experience in designing and executing multi-lateral games.
• Gaming in the Pacific theater. While on Day 2 we will discuss what games are being conducted in the Pacific, in this session we will focus on challenges imposed by the theater. This ranges from the “tyranny of distance” to the need to incorporate advanced sensors and technologies into our games.
• Games for training and education. Games are gaining a lot of traction in the training and educational communities. What are some of the challenges and opportunities we see with games designed for training and education? How do you have to design differently for these topics and audiences?
• Scenario design. One area that can become important in multi-lateral games is scenario design. What are some of the options we have for designing scenarios for games with partners and allies?
• Analysis of games. Everyone wants to understand what they get out of games, so what DO you get out of games, and how do you get it?

Panels will consist of senior designers and guests discussing topics of general interest.  Each panel will be led by a moderator with panelists given a chance to make a short presentation, then discuss the topic.  Potential topics include:

• Partner gaming. What do other countries do in multi-lateral games, and how do they approach designing games with a diverse set of participants?
• Pacific gaming. What is going on in Pacific Gaming?  This will hopefully be two panels, one with INDOPACOM commands discussing US gaming, while the other panel will be made up of partner and allied countries. 
• Games for training and education. How are commands in the INDOPACOM area using games for training and education?  What are some of the unrealized opportunities?
• Games for climate change? A panel of designers who have been conducting climate change games discuss their games, as well as the recent Government panel at Connections US that described US government requirements for climate games.

Workshops are small group experiences where the group talks about a topic, led by someone who has proposed discussing it.  After the discussions are finished the group leader presents a few key take-aways about the topic to everyone at the meeting.  Depending on the number of conference participants and interest we may have two or more rounds of workshops. 

Before and during the conference we will ask participants for workshop topics.  Workshops will consist of conference participants sitting at a table discussing the topic.  The person proposing the topic is responsible for making sure the discussion stays on track and saying something about what was discussed at the plenary session.

Workshops give participants a chance to drive the discussion toward topics they are interested in, and for everyone to get a chance to participate in the discussions.

As part of the conference, organizers will take advice and guidance from INDOPACOM or others on possible conference game topics.  At minimum games will avoid focusing on major conflicts or sensitive areas.  At the same time if no one has any scenario or game suggestions we may include games that ask the players to think about difficult real world, and design, topics.  

These might include games such as these:

• Business operations cyber game. Some players are running a business, while others want to attack it. 
• No Peace for Bougainville! A renewal of the conflict in Bougainville.  Is this a strategic problem?  Or a tactical one?  Who wants to go first?
• Humanitarian assistance/disaster response. A tsunami has hit an industrialized area which is now awash in trouble.  Chemical spills, radiation hazards, and the potential for secondary explosions at chemical plants all complicate evacuation and relief operations. 
• Negotiation game. A treaty has been proposed that would link together many of the economies in the Pacific basin.  But there are those out to sabotage the deliberations, and everyone is trying to gain advantage for themselves.   How will you be able to satisfy everyone and get the treaty through. 
• Industrial policy 201. Everyone wants a piece of the semiconductor pie.  Everyone wants clean energy and domestic manufacturing.  But how will they get there, especially when there are complex challenges in their way. 

Participants will break up into groups, construct a preliminary game design, or modify an existing one, and then attempt to play the resulting game.  Games will naturally focus on strategic and operational scenarios and mechanics that work well in impromptu group settings.  Matrix games, for example.