IWorg.Com The Irish Wargaming Homepage

So why should wargames be accused of training soldiers or warmongers?*

Last night I participated in a panel discussing the impact of wargames and
war play on popular culture hosted on the radio station Newstalk FM's show, Culture Shock (to be broadcast this Saturday night between 7-9pm).

While the panel discussion was (I think!) fairly benign and also featured Eamon Honan representing the Irish Games Association (IGA), an American academic who specialised in popular culture and an ex-US army serviceman who had served in Iraq but has now gone on to write a play/art installation about his experiences. However most of the discussion was focused on computer games and GI Joe dolls rather than the sort of wargames I'm interested in. I felt like someone who came to talk about French art house cinema and was asked to explain (or even defend) the stupidity of Hollywood blockbusters.

The repeated references to first person shooter computer games, like half-life, as "wargames" and the attempt to uncover a link between them and real world violence is tiresome to this author. As those of you who know me will know, I am not enamored with computer games at all. I know that many people in the "pen and paper" or miniatures wargames hobbies also have some interest in these games, they're just not for me (and I like lots of different types of games, not just wargames). The prime reasons for this are twofold; they tend to emphasise "twitch"-based gameplay (hand to eye co-ordination) over problem solving or strategy and even with the fantastic modern computer graphics available they pale into insignificance compared to what I can imagine inside my head. Put another way, I always prefer the novel to the movie.

Similarly I prefer games that have physical components (preferably high sensory impact ones like beautifully painted miniature figures or the lovingly crafted wooden pieces of many German/Euro boardgames) and deeply engaging game-play with many levels of concerns to be balanced, decisions to be made and interactions with the other players. This engaging game-play can be expressed through either simple or complex rules mechanisms, the key is the balance of the design rather than absolute complexity. I have enjoyed good designs from Carcassonne to Advanced Squad Leader, which I think pretty much spans the levels of complexity available.

The social aspect of traditional games is also very important to me. When you physically sit or stand around a table with people to play a game you are engaging with them in a way that computer games cannot equal. When I make my weekly visit to my local games club, Dublin Games Guild, the chat during the games and going for a pint afterwards is a vital part of the experience. Some people even come down and only chat, they don't play a game at all! Now the proponents of computer games may claim that with online gaming and simultaneous voice connections to the other players this social aspect is covered. However it is a pale reflection of face to face social interaction. In the business world a video conference or phone call helps to bridge the gap between people in distributed locations but it is still no substitute for actually meeting face to face. That is what humans need to truly explore their understanding of one another. Of course you can make friends online and I'm sure there are social aspects to the computer gaming community but social interaction is at the foundation of face to face games played around a table. In fact as my friends and I have moved out of our teens and twenties many of these self-confessed "gamers" express the feeling that the games themselves have become much less important and the social interaction they bring is instead the main goal. It's hard with work, kids, partners, life to make room to keep in contact but if there is a game organised and you know that people will be there it's easier to make the effort and turn up. Sure, the pub can fulfill this function for many people but, for me, a game is more of an event so it's worth making an effort to attend whereas pub nights can blend together as a more "samey" experience.

As Greg Costikyan, one of the many traditional pen and paper games designers who has transitioned to computer games design, writes in his article on the current computer games industry, "Death to the Games Industry: Long Live Games":
"...the odds of getting anything innovative published today are nonexistent. In fact, the only thing you can get funded is something that's based on a license or part of a franchise..."
This sums up the main problem, for me, with computer games i.e. that they are so banal, derivative and lacking in game-play that engages higher brain functions rather than an endless loop of prodding primitive fight or flight responses. The fact that they tend towards lazy game design that confuses the need for conflict in a good game with graphic scenes of combat and violence is, in my opinion, a much lesser failing. This theme is explored further in Greg's thought provoking article for Salon, "Games don't kill people - do they?".

However computer games have gone mainstream in a way that wargames, role-playing games and hobby boardgames have never managed. They are a part of popular culture and will remain so. Of course relatively light "euro" board games are still a very popular pastime for people in Germany and other parts of mainland Europe so I suppose I'm generalising about what the French call the "Anglo-Saxon" or English-speaking parts of the world. Computer games have many advantages in this respect:

• They can hide game complexity from players, opening game-play to a wider audience.
• Through the internet and online gaming they can make access to opponents much easier, the relatively low density of gamers has always been a problem for people starting in the hobby.
• They can be visually appealing in a way that engages people who are not drawn to cardboard counters or writing things down, much as movies and TV have tended to dominate over the written word.
• They are easy to setup, pause and resume with out any physical components to sort, store and protect from children, cats or the need to clear the table to have dinner.
• They support learning of the game via exploration rather than pre-game study which is otherwise a barrier to entry

I'm sure there are lots of other good points too. The computer games industry now has great power, with major releases outperforming movie releases in terms of revenue. They also have huge reach and impact on popular culture, I can only imagine that this will increase over time with the general computerisation of society and roll out of network connectivity and capability. As a gamer I am someone who inherently understands the appeal of games both as escapism and as a set of tools for exploring human knowledge, our humanity (or lack of it) and making new friends. My challenge to that industry is to diversify and innovate so that these potentials are reached rather than almost exclusively concentrating on the mass market, easy wins. Then perhaps some of the computer gamers would show up to defend themselves on shows like Culture Shock's feature on wargaming and culture. Also maybe I'll get to play a few more great games in a medium that so far has proved lackluster for me.

To be fair, I found the contributions to the show to be balanced and there was no simplistic witch hunt going on. Afterwards the presenter, Fionn Davenport, admitted (is that the right word?) that he had himself played Dungeons and Dragons (a roleplaying game) in the past and stated in his summing up at the end of the segment that problems with games or violence, if and when they arise, tend to come from individual problems or circumstances like poverty, lack of education, abuse etc. Hence I can say that I am glad I participated despite serious misgivings since the media has a poor track record (from a gamers point of view anyway) when dealing with games and gamers.

If people are interested in find out more about the hobby, the best way is to try and contact local gamers, perhaps by looking at the clubs section of our Irish Wargames Directory, or if you can't find anyone local then a recently released book which is getting good reviews is Wargaming: An Introduction by Neil Thomas.

*By the way thanks to Nathaniel on the excellent site The Miniatures Page for the idea for title of this article.