Board wargames for decision making research

Abstract

This paper discusses some aspects of a game for research into decision making. From our experience with commercial board wargames, we identify six requirements for a research game, and three requirements for its control. The Organisational Control Game, a wargame which we have developed, is shown to satisfy the requirements. The Superior Commander system is used to control the game, and the importance of the dummy task is discussed. We conclude that commercial board wargames can be adapted to examine decision making scientifically, we offer some guidelines for game development, and we consider extensions to other contexts, particularly those related to business games.