https://stratcommand.blog.gov.uk/from-data-to-decisions/
From Data to Decisions
As part of the Defence Experimentation and Wargaming Hub’s People in Wargaming series we recently spoke to a panel of people/experts about their experiences in the field of wargaming.
Interviewer: Can you briefly introduce yourself?
Ashana: I'm Ashana, I'm a wargaming analyst at Kings College London (KCL).
Interviewer: What drew you into wargaming?
Ashana: I was really interested to understand how people make decisions. So, I studied economics during my undergrad and we studied game theory, which is a lot about how people make irrational decisions. I'm very interested in game theory and behavioural science. From an objective point of view, sometimes, actors, especially people in politics, make very irrational choices.
So why do they do that? What are they thinking about? Different things that cloud people's judgments, like biases and their emotions; that is what I’m really interested in finding out. That's why I was drawn to wargaming, because I think it's a very interesting tool to study how people make decisions.
Interviewer: Can you briefly describe your role/experience in wargaming?
Ashana: I did a wargaming principles and practice course that Dr David Banks teaches at KCL. That was my first introduction to Wargaming, and I found it extremely helpful. I loved that course, and I was really interested in wargaming as an intellectual discipline.
For the analyst programme, we developed the Horizons game played at NATO. I helped to facilitate the game during the wargaming week. It's been a wonderful experience and the wargaming community is also wonderful and I'm so happy that I get to meet so many people through these events. As a young person in this industry, everyone has been super welcoming, I'm really grateful.
Interviewer: What are some of the key skills required for success in the wargaming field?
Ashana: There are five core skills that you need to have, however even if you have only three out of these five, you're still in a good place to do well in the field.
- Game design and writing are big aspects of wargames.
- The ability to facilitate and run games, and how you’re able to manage people because it's essentially humans that are playing these games and sometimes, depending on what the game is about, people's emotions can influence the game and you need to be able to handle that.
- Research is another big part of wargames, it’s important to ensure games are realistic, which involves a whole set of research criteria which you need to adhere to.
- Project Management, there is a lot of event management when facilitating a game.
- Data analysis is the final skill, it ties back into the research and writing part. You need to be able to analyse the data that you've collected.
Interviewer: What current trends are you seeing in wargaming?
Ashana: From discussions with people during a recent wargaming week and an exercise a KCL, there seems to be a lot of demand for wargamers and wargaming, but there's not enough supply. So, I think wargaming is growing in popularity, not just in the Defence area, but also in other areas like resilience planning.
There are a lot of different organisations that are starting to appreciate the use of wargaming as a tool to understand complex issues or to model reactions to particular situations. It's really a growing industry. Wargaming goes through periods of waxing and waning interest, right now this seems a period of waxing interest.
Interviewer: How do you think wargaming will evolve over the next five years?
Ashana: It's definitely a growing field right now. I think people want to see more of digital wargaming, but there are pros and cons to this. I do think that in the future we’re going to integrate more. There's going to be more AI in wargaming, but it's not going to be like the AI's making the decisions. It could be that there's increased integration stemming from the use of AI for areas such as analysis. Dr David Banks recently did a really wonderful podcast in which he talks about this and how AI can be used to do things like scheduling or planning, data analysis but not replacing human decision making or people as players.
The podcast can be accessed here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4Tycki07HrBLh4hvccutdC?si=f5eAIJn1QXaQEOg0TATdzA.
Interviewer: What is your favourite wargame and why?
Ashana: I’ve not been a hobby wargamer, so that's a difficult question for me to answer. I think up to a certain point I've enjoyed playing every game that I've played, but one game that I will mention is Pete Sizer’s The Insurgency Rolls On, it's about counterinsurgency. His game is wonderful and a great base game. You can create so many different versions of it and modify the game to suit different scenarios and settings. So, I think that's my favourite game right now.
What do you see as the biggest challenge facing Defence Wargaming?
Ashana: I think there is a lack of common language within wargaming. My course recently facilitated a wargame for NATO and we realised that many people in the room did not share that same language. There is a lot of jargon and differences between what is taught in the academic world and professional wargaming. A lack of a unified language increases the risk of miscommunication.
Interviewer: What advice would you give to someone aspiring to enter the wargaming industry?
Ashana: The best advice I have is if you want to enter the wargaming industry you need to go to as many wargaming events as possible. For instance, if I'm trying to get a job in the industry, the best way for me to demonstrate my skills is not to send someone a CV or network in the traditional sense of the word, but to facilitate a game. Then people around that table can see, in real time, that I have the skills to facilitate a game.
The KCL Wargaming network has been an excellent platform for me, it offers an excellent lecture series throughout the year. It also gives me opportunities to take part in the game design and facilitation process, which I'm really grateful for. These have helped me get into a lot of rooms and connect with a people who are professional wargamers. Also, LinkedIn, there are so many people posting content about games in development.
Interviewer: What drives you to work in the wargaming sector?
Ashana: So instead of answering what drives me, I think I'll instead tell you why I really want to work in the wargaming space. Wargaming is at the intersection of all of my interests. I'm a curious person and inspired to learn about new things. I’ve always had passion for design, and I really like graphic design; I'm always trying to create infographics or visual aids to talk through complex ideas.
I have an interest in intelligence and security studies; that's my Master of Arts (MA). I read a lot about decision-making and emotions and it’s very interesting to study with an academic lens how and why people make choices. I really appreciate wargaming as a discipline. I do think that if it's done properly, and in a correct and scientific way, it can give you amazing results which yield some very interesting insights. Like I said at the start, wargaming integrates all of my skills and interests.