Lecture title: Modelling and Criticizing War, Strategy and Conflict in Games

Abstract: Strategy, tactics, conflict, organized violence, war, and atrocities are omnipresent in games – as gameplay and story, commented on, rejected and applauded. But if not approached carefully, their integration in games deteriorates into mere fantasies of power, contradicting the design choice to integrate them in the first place. It further disregards their real-life destructive nature and hardships as well as the power of games as a medium. This lecture discusses modelling of conflict and war in games in the light of professional wargames applied by real-world institutions. After a short break, a workshop is offered, in which we apply models to recent conflicts and try to draft serious games around them.

About the speaker: Soenke Schenk is a wargame designer/developer and analyst for the governmental sector. After studying politics and anthropology, he became a soldier with German armed forces. He deployed to Afghanistan multiple times and is an instructor for tactics and logistics.