> On Thu, 13 Sep 2001 08:15:58 -0700 thwaak <thwaak@pacbell.net> writes:
<snip>
> Additionally my brother is stationed aboard the Carl Vinson, which is
Why is it that war games seem so... well, Fun... but the real thing is so...
Horrific? Is it because it has the 'distance' of history or (for SF and
Fantasy) 'not reality' or because we compartmentalize our minds so easily?
Gracias,
> Why is it that war games seem so... well, Fun... but the real thing is
Well I wargame Sci-Fi and Fantasy because of not wanting to get bogged
down with uniform colours or whether or not this type of tank was ever in the
same theater of war as this other type etc etc.
Wargaming is just that a game. I consider myself a wargamer not a warmonger
which is an important point. And anyway no one seems to worry about making
money out of producing war films nor computer games and simulations of war
time which are very graphic.
On Thu, 13 Sep 2001 17:48:58 EDT, Glenn M Wilson <triphibious@juno.com> wrote:
> Why is it that war games seem so... well, Fun... but the real thing is
Humans are hardwired for conflict. We evolved in a competitive environment.
The recent horrible events have shown this quite graphically. People have been
quoted as saying they ran away from the building collapses, even continuing to
run after they had escaped the danger zone. The anger that's felt and the
feeling of needing to lash out is another reaction. Psychologically, we're
wired for conflict, or surviving conflict.
We also have an ability to compartmentalize. We can abstract things. You hear
it all the time now, with military analysts explaining rather calmly what's
happened. I had a rather interesting, albeit morbid, discussion on how someone
could survive the WTC collapse in spite of (actually, because of) being on the
top floor. It's easy to roll dice and remove stands of Civil War figures
attacking an artillery unit. We can do this without thinking about the men
who's heads were shredded by cannister shot, who's bodies were ripped apart,
and who's feet slipped on the entrails of their compatriots. That doesn't mean
we won't weep at the sight of flag-draped caskets.
Wargaming is a mental exercise. It's a chess game with realistic parameters.
It's a learning tool, if the game is done properly, for understanding
historically accurate tactics. There's also the whole "what if" idea of seeing
if you could have done it better than the original commanders. At it's core,
it's a competition. Unlike chess, most wargames are not solely "out thinking".
The random factor is seen by many as making wargames much more interesting
games than the completely cerebral chess or completely random card and dice
games.
Wargaming is cathartic. In a weird way, people coming up with terrorist
scenarios in the aftermath of this week's disaster are coping in their own
way. It may be insensitive and morbid, but for some it's a way of coping by
forcing the whole thing into a game context. It's easier to play "good guys
and bad guys" instead of watching the horror on TV. As much as many people
don't like this, it is a natural response.
There are plenty of other reasons. There's the geek military hardware
lovefest. If you're a Freudian, you'll have a field day with the macho
symbolism of playing with "guns". At it's most basic, it's playing with toy
soldiers but with an intellectual component sophisticated enough for an adult.
Okay, so much for Psych 101. I haven't touched the moral aspect, and that's
where things get really hairy. I have talked to someone who won't play fantasy
games due to his belief that magic is anti-Christian. There are plenty
of folk who will ONLY play fantasy, or science fiction, because of its divorce
from reality. I get caught up in this myself. I may run a cop versus terrorist
scenario, except the "terrorists" will be either Cthulhu cultists or Greys.
It's the same scenario, but the fantasy aspect takes the edge off it. There
are historical topics that I'm less comfortable playing than others. I know of
a lot of people who simply will not play World War II games for this reason.
Which brings me to the darkside to wargaming. We've all seen the guys in the
Nazi t-shirts at conventions. There are folk who wargame simply to
relive the "glory of combat" (a glory that everyone believed in until
photography showed the true horror of war). There is no glory in warfare. If
you doubt this, ask a veteran. Now, I'm not advocating placing decapitated
"killed" figures on the SG2 field, or the like, but I also like to keep things
in perspective. Even in SG2 I don't celebrate when a squad is eliminated.
If someone glorifies war, they may wargame. If you wargame, it doesn't mean
you glorify war. It's an abstraction. So is paintball, collecting action
figures, making military models, and even playing "capture the flag". Not
everyone can understand that. Don't let anyone belittle you for playing
wargames. At the same time, understand how they may have issues at seeing
someone "glorifying war".
It's not an easy thing to explain...
> >Why is it that war games seem so... well, Fun... but the real thing
Why wargaming? Well, it's an escape from day-to-day frustration--a
set of problems that we can solve and know we've succeeded. When we lose a
game, we can still have fun while losing because there are no significant
consequences. Okay, that's true of any game (as long as you're not playing pro
sports or gambling), so why wargaming in particular?
It's more complex than chess, therefore more satisfying to solve.
It's an avenue to understand history. I suspect this is the main reason most
of us began gaming; certainly my first game was AH's Luftwaffe, because I was
interested in WWII fighters at the time. When I get into a game that covers a
period I'm not familiar with, I find out about the background. I wouldn't know
anything about the Napoleonic era if it hadn't been for a campaign a friend of
mine ran for a couple of years. Right now I'm thinking about a PAU vs IF
campaign, so I'm reading up on Nigeria and Islam; and of course the Alarishi
Empire is an exercise in designing governments and societies.
The miniartures aspect gives us an opportunity to be
creative--building terrain and painting minis. The gamer also has the
opportunity to create scenarioes, which are essentially stories--that
why everyone likes a well written AAR.
And of course the main thing is, it's not real. Win or lose, the figures are
all okay and ready to go again next week. Put it this way: would you play
Monopoly if it were real money out of your own
pocket? For most people, the answer is no. The same for most
gamers--we play because it isn't real.