PC Games To Help Public Policy Initiatives

Ben Sawyer writes: "The Woodrow Wilson Center's Foresight and Governance Project has published Serious Games: Improving Public Policy through Game-Based Learning and Simulation, a whitepaper. The paper illustrates how government agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) can utilize game-based techniques, technologies, and approaches to produce innovative simulations, models, and game-based learning products that enhance public policy decisions. The Woodrow Wilson Center is distributing the paper on-line to a variety of agencies, organizations, and game developers to help foster greater discussion and cooperation between key public policy makers and game developers. Interested readers can find the homepage for the paper here."

Comments

SimPublicPolicy

[MiTEG]

This reminds me of the good old says during Maxis' peak, when they released a Sim version of everything, from SimTrain to SimFarm to SimCity, etc. My favorites were SimTower and SimCity 2000, and I think both could be easily tweaked to become more related to public policy.

In SimTower, you were the owner of a high rise building, and your task was to build the biggest possible tower while still pleasing everyone (elevator congestion, pricing, etc). An important part of public policy. Also, in SimCity, you took on the role of a city manager, and if that doesn't relate to public policy, I don't know what does.

SimKickback

[FakePlasticDubya]

Hmm, perhaps a Sim that teaches government officials how to avoid corruption?

Sort of like what we tell the kids, you know, "Just say no!"

Riiiiiight.

[bobetov]

Not only is this a brilliant way to get funding for "research" that only a 13-year-old Sims fan could love, but it's clear that they have no idea what they're talking about. A good example:

"Not only is the game development community at the forefront of PC-based visualization, it is also a leading developer of applied artificial intelligence... blah blah"

Hahahaha. As a game developer myself, I can tell you exactly how leading edge game AI is. Let's all say it together now... Table Lookups!

Woohoo. Games are games. Simulations are simulations. Games are fun, simulations are not.

Bleh.

Great idea - game theory is very insightful

[Seth Finkelstein]

It's a great idea. It's long known that game theory such as The Prisoner's Dilemma can yield a lot of social insight. As that page details:

This classic problem of game theory sheds light on many of the problems that have plagued ethical and political philosophers throughout history. It addresses that class of situations in which there is a fundamental conflict between what is a rational choice for an individual member of a group and for the group as a whole. It helps us understand how such dilemmas can be resolved for the greater good.

Putting these ideas into computer games can make the topic less abstract, more immediate and clear.

Sig: What Happened To The Censorware Project (censorware.org)

Re:Great idea - game theory is very insightful

[Arrian]

Yeeeaaaahhhhh, sorta, but what I remember of the theory I from college, it doesn't apply to the flowing, loosely defined world of FPS's very well.

What I remember of game theory is that it is concerned with making decisions between set options to come to an acceptable outcome, and other people, their decisions, and their acceptable outcomes may or may not be taken into account. I know this is very vague and simplistic, but I don't have access to any books at the moment for a more concise and possibly accurate defination.

I see it more directly applicable to strategy games like chess. If I move my rook here, how likely is he to take it with his night allowing me to take his bishop with a pawn, and is it worth it at this point in the game. Brute force simulation may achieve the same or better effects against average Chess players on a PC, but more complicated strategy games (say an Axis and Allies implimentation) may have too many variables to simply simulate out all options to the Nth move and choose the best one.

In the fast paced flowing situation of an FPS, I doubt this type of calculation is feasable. Also, I don't know of anything on game theory that would suggest coming up with new ideas, it is about choosing between different options.

Where I do see an application for game theory is in the design of the AI: in giving it options and what the criteria to base the choices between those options are. As a monster, how important is it to me to, A: stay alive; B: Kill the player; C: prevent the player from accomplishing a certain goal; and D: how well do I work with other monsters? The developer them develops sets of tactics and determines how they relate to the monsters' motivations. For values of A between 0 and 50, group 1 tactics (j,k,l) are preferred, group 2 tactics (m,n,p) are neutral, and group 3 tactics (q,r,s) are right out. For values of A betrween 51 and 75, group 1 tactics are neutral, group 2 are preferred, and group 3 are neutral... etc. for all variables. Then, when an engagement is about to happen, the AI can say this monster has scores of A=52, B=37, C=89, and D=92, so tactics x,r, and j are preferred, and l,m,s and v are acceptable, but j,s, and v only apply underwater. Therefore we will give x and r each a 40% chance, and give l and m each a 10% chance, generate a random number and pick a winner. For the rest of the fight, we just follow the rules of the chosen tactic and get blown to hell by Gorden Freeman anyway. So yeah, game theory probably can be used in the context of an FPS, but in a stricter sense it is probably better applied in the design of the AI/bots in the game, and most likely, it is applied in the design of all the games we run into. More accurately maybe, it describes what the designer is doing when he designs his AI. Whether a better understanding of the theory would lead to better AI's, I really don't know.

Brainwashing...

[the_skywise]

I can tell you exactly how these games are going to work out:

A Peta game would be like this:
What do you want to eat for supper?
a> Beef.
b> Chicken.
c> A nice wholesome salad with walnut dressing.

a or b> YOU DIE! YOU'RE EVIL! Play again?

A Republican environmental policy game:
Do you lower the emissions controls for the coal power plants, knowing that it's still a level of environmental protection?
a> yes
b> no

b> USAMA BIN LADEN TAKES OVER THE WORLD THROUGH OIL CONTRACTS. YOU DIE! Play again?
(If the democrats offer the game and you press A> YOU'VE NOT DONE ENOUGH TO SAVE THE WORLD! YOU DIE FROM LACK OF OXYGEN! Play again?)

But go ahead, play your games and get "informed"... that's much better than actually hounding your senator about taking Enron/MPAA/RIAA/Health industry/Microsoft's money and letting them dictate law...

Simulations Not Always Helpful

[Logic Bomb]

As usual, the comic strip Doonesbury is way ahead of the curve. Check out a week's worth of strips starting on April 12, 1982 . Obviously, computer simulations of social phenomena can be more or less productive.