Description

Approximately two-and-a-half years ago, the Defense Modeling and Simulation Office (DMSO) sought to tap new thinking about problems facing the Department of Defense (DoD), especially modeling and simulation (M&S) tools and processes for addressing them. The dynamic nature of contemporary warfare and emerging roles for the military were redefining the M&S requirements. A diffuse adversary set, a dynamic pace of change, the complexity of human interaction, and the simple plethora of “bad guys” highlighted the need for new tools, processes, and thinking.

To that end, the Institute of Defense Analyses (IDA) convened on DMSO’s behalf a workshop exploring the future of M&S. Participants came from across DoD and the government sector with approximately 35 participants generating over 700 concepts and ideas.

Those ideas were aggregated and “threaded,” and an interesting and dominant thread emerged: both the problem and solution space converged on exploiting Massive Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) and commercial gaming in general. Gaming was seen as potentially providing insight into emergent behavior, new business models, and new collaborative and communication techniques in addition to the more “accepted” use as a training tool. Furthermore, gaming technology, through the simple power of its market size, had become a leading driver in the computer, graphics, and networking industries.