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This study examines how managers test strategies, focusing on their understanding of the strategic planning process, and aims to develop a framework for integrating cutting-edge technologies in strategy testing. We used elite interviews with top hotel managers in Turkey and a hermeneutic approach to establish this framework. Results indicate that managers have limited knowledge of strategy testing, which is not yet recognized as a distinct phase in strategy development. Scenario planning and AI-driven methods are only minimally adopted in the industry. We introduced a “techno-human” model that integrates AI and human-oriented decision-making for strategy testing. Our paper contributes significantly by analysing top managers’ use of testing methods in strategic management and highlighting an overlooked area in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explains how the war mentality of Outlaw Motorcycle Gang (OMCG) culture of interclub violence is a form of game established as an outlet for the natural consequences of the reactionary masculinity of its members. It disputes the claim that all violence by clubs is motivated by organized criminal activity. The original OMCG culture exemplifies extreme camaraderie, risk-taking, a lifestyle that condones violence, and an elitist mind-set that expresses itself through violent defense of club honor, including vendetta between clubs. The war mentality and the battles it produces are performed in accordance with the description of games developed by ludology, being played in a magic circle, according to rules, and only by members of the OMCG cultural milieu. This understanding is important to ensure that intelligence analysis of OMCG activity can distinguish between the game of war mentality and genuine organized criminal activity. Failure to perceive the difference can distort intelligence conclusions and misdirect policing responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Pasado y Memoria. Revista de Historia Contemporánea is the property of Pasado y Memoria and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Parents of children with cancer, who face significant financial and psychological burdens, often employ metaphors to convey their distinctive experiences and inner realms. However, these metaphors have received scant attention in prior research. Therefore, this study seeks to investigate the utilization of metaphors in blogs authored by parents of children with cancer, aiming to shed light on this understudied area. This study collected data from blogs authored by 33 parents of children with cancer spanning the period from 2019 to 2022, yielding a total of 181 metaphors. Drawing upon Conceptual Metaphor Theory, the method of qualitative content analysis was employed to analyze how parents of children with cancer utilize metaphors. This study found that "Game", "War", "Journey" and "Plant" metaphors were the most commonly used by parents of children with cancer. Game and war metaphors occupy a dominant position, followed by journey and plant metaphors. Additionally, these parents frequently employ mixed metaphors. The use of metaphorical language enables these parents to effectively articulate their distinct experiences and emotions. The use of metaphors may serve as a means for parents to articulate their feelings and motivate their children to actively fight cancer. By recognizing the metaphors embraced by these parents, we can gain a deeper understanding of their internal world and potentially offer support through both online and offline channels to mitigate their stress levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose a mechanical model for a game of tug of war (rope pulling). We focus on a game opposing two players, modelling each player's body as a structure composed of straight rods that can be actuated in three different ways to generate a pulling force. We first examine the static problem of two opponents being in a deadlock configuration of mechanical equilibrium; here we show that this situation is essentially governed by the ratio of masses of the players, with the heavier player having a strong advantage. We then turn to the dynamic problem and model the response of the system to an abrupt change in activation by one of the players. In this case, the system exhibits a nontrivial response; in particular, we compare a sudden pulling and a sudden "letting up," and demonstrate the existence of regimes in which the lighter player can momentarily take the advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The video game Valiant Hearts, released in 2014 for the First World War centenary, sold over 2.5 million copies and can be considered one of the major contemporary pop-culture historical representations of this war shaping public interpretations of this event. The paper explores how Valiant Hearts, as a kind of informal institution affecting historical remembrance, constructs and encourages a specific framing through the deployment of Europeanizing elements of anti-war narrative, Franco-German reconciliation narrative, and the de-nationalizing logic that indirectly legitimizes the European integration. The analysis of the videogame in the context of the historical film Merry Christmas (2005) is complemented with a close reading of illustrative empirical examples of Let's Plays (paratextual user-generated videos where people record themselves while playing videogames) that indicate how Europeans of different national backgrounds interact with the game Valiant Hearts. The examined cases point to how the everyday, seemingly apolitical leisure activity of playing and watching videogames dealing with history can advance Europeanizing narratives and present occasions for informal Europeanization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of AURUM: Journal of Social Sciences / Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi is the property of Altinbas Universitesi and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Modeling conflict through wargaming is the only option outside of high-cost real conflict for militaries to train their forces and attempt to reveal information about their own strengths and weaknesses as well as those of their foes. This is the function wargaming serves in theory, but in reality, the process of wargaming is undermined by information and incentive problems that cause the real-world performance of wargames to deviate sharply from their performance in theory. These problems resolve the conflicting professional views on wargaming between those who want to use them for predictive purposes and those who want to use them for training purposes in favor of the latter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thomas Hobbes's State of War is commonly imagined as a harrowing condition where hostile interactions are the rule and non-hostile encounters are the rare exception. However, while it is generally true that Hobbes purposely outlined his famed condition of anarchy as a condition of perennial conflict, it is also equally true that cooperative behavior was not uncommon. In fact, by only taking into account cooperative behavior, as presented in Leviathan, the anarchic humans leave the absolute uncertainties of the State of War and create the Commonwealth for their safety and well-being. Over the past fifty years or so, several exits from the State of War via game theory have been proposed in the literature, with mixed results. Most (if not all) solutions consider the likelihood of betrayal, usually through the figure of the Fool. This is a valid approach since the condition of anarchy can be imagined as being rife with dishonesty. However, the issue of non-Fools - as far as the players willful cooperation and the ultimate responsibility for the creation of government is concerned, has not been addressed yet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cyber operations ranging from deception and espionage to disruption and high-end degradation have become a central feature of modern statecraft in the digital age, yet we lack a clear understanding of how decision-makers employ and respond to cyber operations in times of crisis. Our research provides theoretical mechanisms and empirical evidence for understanding how decision-makers react to cyber triggers and utilize cyber responses during crises. Specifically, we argue that the availability of cyber response creates off-ramps for non-escalatory engagement. Based on experimental wargames involving rival states with power parity in militarized disputes and randomized cyber triggers and response options, we find the availability of cyber response options reduces escalatory behavior via a substitution mechanism. In the absence of cyber response options, however, participants pursue more conventional, escalatory actions, regardless of the triggering mechanism. Our findings underscore how enhancing the availability of cyber response options might reduce strategic escalation risks and offer the space to bargain during periods of conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Multidisciplinary Journal of School Education is the property of Jesuit University Ignatianum in Krakow and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Drawing on Debord's the society of the spectacle and Evans and Giroux's notion of the spectacle of violence, this paper argues that a discourse on war, organised violence, and global politics has been disseminated through a military-entertainment complex that has commodified militarism into a practice of consumption. Drawing on first-person shooter (FPS) video games as a context, the paper considers the market for these games, the conditions of their creation, and the way they are marketed. The paper discusses three ways in which FPS games function as part of a contemporary spectacle of violence: through their intertextual connections to other forms of military entertainment; through the immersive experience they offer; and through the geopolitical position they establish. The paper concludes by establishing FPS games as complex, sophisticated cultural artefacts that both draw on and shape wider discourses on war and the military, in the age of the spectacle of violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the author analyzes the results of a three-move space war game conducted by the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center in 2021. The game focused on a possible lead up to a Chinese commercial blockade of Taiwan in the 2027–29 time frame. In the game, China attempts to deter Japan and the United States from coming to Taipei's aid by threatening and then attacking US and Japanese satellite systems. Results of the game – conducted with the assistance of current and former senior State Department, NASA, intelligence, space industry, and Defense Department officials – suggest that space combat is unlikely to be waged only between dedicated military systems. Instead, many of the ground- and space-based threats the United States and its allies face – including laser satellite trackers, commercial space surveillance systems, space debris-removing satellites, and refueling spacecraft – will have legitimate civilian uses but can be flipped to conduct military missions against critical, targeted satellites. The author provides four "takeaways" from the space war game, one of which involves much closer coordination among the United States and its allies in regard to space security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the potential combined impact of wargaming and Artificial Intelligence (AI) for achieving strategic advantage, including the possibility of AI replacing human-driven wargames and the potential for selective human-machine integration to achieve the best of both worlds.

The article focuses on the use of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) in military wargaming, highlighting its applications in scenario generation, including the challenges of AI-enabled red team agents and the potential integration of generative AI with traditional wargaming practices.

The "new" Great Game suggests that, like the imperial competition of the past, we are witnessing a trans-imperial moment whereby Japan and China are vying for hegemony in East Asia. This is a new moment because East Asia, unlike Europe, has never had two co-existing superpowers. The prospect of a new imperial competition is complicated by the still-present American military power and the non-statist arena, especially in popular culture, where the imperial games are played out. Using two popular anti-Japan videogames, Glorious Mission Online (2013) and The Invisible Guardian (2019) as case studies, I argue these games are symptomatic of the relations between warfare and game in general. I then outline the trend in game development that subverts conventional wargames. Finally, I speculate on alternative game design over the disputed territories in the Southern China Sea that prioritizes ecology over human conflict and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focusing on Liyla and the Shadows of War, Bury Me, My Love and This War of Mine through gender studies, platform studies, affect studies and theories of care, the article offers a comparative close reading analysis of the three games with an emphasis on time management, platform and affect, arguing that these games conceptualize a shift from heroism to care based on their temporality and by creating an affect of vulnerability. Liyla enacts the urgency made palpable by war, forcing the player character to abandon the time-consuming task of care. Bury Me, My Love systematically precludes heroic narratives, outlining instead a caring masculinity that relies on the affective time management of the mobile phone. Finally, the game mechanics of This War of Mine combine the time of heroism and caring – provided that the latter is an essential prerequisite for the former. The article concludes that these diegetic care templates may make players really care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the potential risks of transferring skills and knowledge acquired from gaming into the real world. While gaming can be beneficial for improving skills, such as in the case of professionals like F1 drivers and doctors, there is a danger of individuals becoming overconfident and mixing up the virtual world with reality. The article highlights a past incident where a man who was skilled at flight simulator games hijacked an aircraft, believing he could navigate it based on his gaming experience. The article emphasizes the need for awareness and appropriate action to prevent negative transfers of gaming skills, particularly in digital games where facilitators and debriefing are often lacking. The authors invite submissions of innovative ideas and solutions to address this challenge. [Extracted from the article]

Numerous factors are known to impact human decision-making: fatigue, stress, fear, sleep deprivation, organizational culture, ethics, and even substances consumed, among others. Making decisions within the context of a military operation poses exceptional challenges. Time constraints are consistently tight, and military personnel often contend with physical and mental exhaustion, along with substantial stress and fear. Our proactive strategies for addressing these hurdles predominantly revolve around educating military personnel, incorporating both theoretical training and immersive simulations that may include different types of war games, role playing and VR applications that mimic real-world challenges. However, can we extend our efforts further to ensure that military personnel surmount difficulties and consistently make morally and legally sound decisions amidst exceptional situations? Moreover, where does trust lie: in the insights of a comrade, a commanding officer, or the guidance provided by sophisticated algorithms and Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems? Could AI potentially outperform human guidance when it comes to elevating the ethical and legal discernment of military personnel amid the intensity of combat situations?

Copyright of URVIO - Revista Latinoamericana de Seguridad Ciudadana is the property of FLACSO - Ecuador (Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Test & Measurement Technology is the property of Publishing Center of North University of China and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Numerous factors are known to impact human decision-making: fatigue, stress, fear, sleep deprivation, organizational culture, ethics, and even substances consumed, among others. Making decisions within the context of a military operation poses exceptional challenges. Time constraints are consistently tight, and military personnel often contend with physical and mental exhaustion, along with substantial stress and fear. Our proactive strategies for addressing these hurdles predominantly revolve around educating military personnel, incorporating both theoretical training and immersive simulations that may include different types of war games, role playing and VR applications that mimic real-world challenges. However, can we extend our efforts further to ensure that military personnel surmount difficulties and consistently make morally and legally sound decisions amidst exceptional situations? Moreover, where does trust lie: in the insights of a comrade, a commanding officer, or the guidance provided by sophisticated algorithms and Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems? Could AI potentially outperform human guidance when it comes to elevating the ethical and legal discernment of military personnel amid the intensity of combat situations? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Strategic Universe Journal / Univers Strategic is the property of Dimitrie Cantemir Christian University, Institute for Security Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The Decision for War (DfW) game provides an opportunity to explore how information affects the occurrence of war—in theory and in practice. Gameplay, and the subsequent discussion it facilitates, provides the opportunity to explore topics such as differences in risk taking, strategic choice as a function of other's expected actions, differing perceptions of loss or gain, and updating prior assumptions through experience, along with various psychological and cognitive biases that may preclude individuals and states reaching negotiating agreements that avoid violence. In an academic classroom setting, these questions of information and risk could complement lessons in International Relations, History, Conflict Resolution, Psychology, and Strategic Studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Studies about Language / Kalbu Studijos is the property of Studies about Language / Kalbu Studijos and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Recent years have seen increased interest in the professional use of wargames, and wargames are a potential tool to enable a better understanding of past urban conflicts and to plan for future urban security. Whilst access to professional wargames are limited, hobby wargames have been identified as useful and closely related areas to study. Previous work has identified around 214 manual hobby wargames that deal with urban conflict, but only 5 battles are covered by 5 or more wargames, and so provide a reasonable sample for comparative reviews. The Battle of Hue battle had many of the hallmarks of a modern urban battle, with both symmetric and asymmetric opposition, combined arms, a civilian and media presence, and the use of innovative technology. This article examines how 6 different wargame designers have approached the Battle of Hue, and how their design choices relate to the key characteristic of the Battle of Hue. The article also identifies where the principal deficiencies are. The article concludes by considering the issues highlighted by these games that wargaming has in representing urban conflict, and how these could be addressed in order to make wargaming a more useful tool to model urban conflict and security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article delves into an examination of video game streaming and its impact on shaping perceptions of the Russo-Ukrainian War as an influence operation. Specifically, it investigates the case of a 16-year-old boy known as GrishaPutin who streamed a multiplayer game of Hearts of Iron IV from the ChVK Wagner Centre. Drawing upon the framework of popular geopolitics and considering the narrative, ludic, and representational dimensions of these streams, this article situates the event within the broader social context in which the influence operation unfolds. Ultimately, this paper concludes that this event represents a novel and yet to be fully established practice in the realm of influence operations. It highlights how such information operations can evolve and adapt, with non-state actors occasionally driving innovation in ways that may not have been anticipated or planned by established state entities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents how we can benefit a usage of common computer software to support a manual wargame in simulating battles. In addition, we present an Excel-based simulator that supports the tactics training of the Finnish Army School as part of a basic unit-level manual war game. We also present a simulator usage study that supports the idea that the simulator enlivens manual wargaming, adding excitement to the game events. Simulator enables to settle the outcomes of battles neutrally compared to the potentially biased views of the people participating in the game. It reduces the factors that cause slowness in manual wargaming and improves the players' learning and motivation by creating a tactical discussion and illustrating the factors affecting the battle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this note is to revisit the connections between some stochastic games, namely Tug-of-War games, and a class of nonlocal PDEs on graphs. We consider a general formulation of Tug-of-War games which is shown to be related to many classical PDEs in the continuous setting. We transcribe these equations on graphs using ad hoc differential operators and we show that it covers several nonlocal PDEs on graphs such as ∞ -Laplacian, game p-Laplacian and the eikonal equation. This unifying mathematical framework allows us to easily design simple algorithms to solve several inverse problems in imaging and data science, with a particular focus on cultural heritage and medical imaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to expose the experiences obtained in the application of an exercise under the modality of war games in the Master in Strategic Intelligence of the National Academy of Political and Strategic Studies of Chile. This methodology was used to practice and train the theoretical contents, using all the students, civil and military, from various disciplines. The main findings refer to individual and group attitudes and capacities, as well as analytical and decision-making processes. Additionally, lessons were obtained for the program, the game itself, and the professional performance of the function. Finally, evidence is exposed that this type of exercise allows one to achieve significant experiences in conditions similar to real ones and is relevant to complete an educational process in programs of this nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]