What War Games Can (& Can’t) Teach Us About War

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The simulated wars seen in video games like Call Of Dutyare very different from modern conflicts in the real world. This is mostly by design; a war-simulating video game that truly captured all the logistical challenges and moral traumas of real modern warfare wouldn't be fun to play. There are, however, vital fragments of truth gamers with a discerning eye can glean from certain video games.

Strategy games like Wargame: Red Dragon can teach gamers a bit about the tactics and logistical challenges of modern war, and how certain battlefield weapons can easily be used to commit atrocities. Third-person shooter games like Spec Ops: The Line can help players understand how dangerously easy it is for leaders of military operations to succumb to self-destructive obsession, committing horrific deeds in order to «win» an increasingly pointless war. Finally, survival games such as This War Of Mine remind players about the human cost of war and how it can shatter the lives of ordinary people in its wake.

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War and games have been closely tied together for centuries, if not millennia. Checkers, Chess, Wei Qi, Hnefatafl, Ludus Latrunculorum, Fidchell, and other ancient board games were made to be abstract representations of battles between clashing armies. Kriegsspiel, one of the earliest war-simulation strategy games with a referee, was developed by the 19th-century Prussian army to teach its officers battlefield tactics.

H.G. Wells, the famous British novelist and pacifist, created a tabletop war game called Little Wars designed to be played with toy soldiers, praising it with the following words:

"How much better is this amiable miniature than the Real Thing! [...] Here is