Politics of Play : Wargaming with the US Military

A wargaming renaissance has been underway in the US military. Having proven to be the most effective recruitment tool of the 21st century, games have proliferated across all levels of the military's strategic, operational, training, and rehabilitation architecture. From board games to high-tech digital and virtual reality platforms, wargames enable milarites to learn lessons from the past, play out possible responses to current crises, and explore the effectiveness of future operations and strategies. From the Russian invasion of Ukraine to the Covid 19 pandemic, today wargames are a key means by which the US military--and many other militaries--make plans and fight wars. Politics of Play is the first academic book dedicated to the US military wargaming renaissance. Grounded in 100 hours of interviews undertaken by the author during fieldwork with US military wargamers, it explores how games intervene in players' cognitive and affective registers using immersion and the drive to win. In addition, Politics of Play develops a new theory of play grounded in the thought of Jacques Derrida which seeks to expose and disrupt the politics and power relations at work in the use of games to produce warfighters in the digital age. Cover Politics of Play Copyright Contents Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction Wargames Resurgent Politics of Play Wargaming with the US Military Structure of the Book 1. Conceptualizing Wargaming Introduction What Is a Wargame? Games, Simulations, Exercises Manual Versus Digital Wargames Commercial Versus Military Wargames Deterministic Versus Open-​Ended Wargames What Are Military Wargames For? Conclusion 2. The State of Play Introduction: Worlds of Wargames Gaming International Relations The Defense Innovation Initiative and the Third Offset Strategy The Wargaming Renaissance: Gaming the Human Dimension Uncertainty and Complexity Critical Thinking Futurity Decision-​making Methodological Divergences: Art Versus Science Conclusion 3. A Genealogy of Play: The Presocratics to the Moderns Introduction: Theorizing Play Ancient Play Modern Play Apollonian Idealism The Dionysian (Re)turn Homo Ludens Phenomenological Play Conclusion 4. The Play of Postmodernity: Deconstructive Play Introduction: Postmodern Play Poststructural Play Derrida’s Interminable Economy of Play The Play of Deconstruction Deconstructive Play Disentangling Play from Game Cultivating a Deconstructive Player Deconstructive Play in Gameworlds Conclusion 5. Play as Pedagogy: Gaming the Cognitive Dimension Introduction: Play as Pedagogy Why Wargaming Works How Wargaming Works Step One: Attention and Engagement Step Two: Consolidation Through Iteration Step Three: Consolidation Through Critical Thinking Step Four: Retention Producing Realities with Wargames The Forever Game Conclusion 6. Playing the Player: Gaming the Affective Dimension Introduction: The Problem of Player Agency The Politics of Game Design Designers Facilitators and Adjudicators Players Persuasion, Emotion, Coercion Promoting Apollonian Play Aligning Player Goals with Game Goals Producing People with Wargaming Generating Synthetic Experience Mental and Physical Muscle Memory Compromising Player Agency Conclusion 7. For the Win Introduction: Driving Pedagogical Play What’s Fun About Wargames? For the Win Competition and A(nta)gonism How the Desire to Win Drives Play Rewards and Punishments Orchestrating Failure Systemic Iterative Irresolution Conclusion 8. The Politics of Immersion Introduction: Where Do We Go When We Play? The Focus of Flow and the Spell of Immersion Immersive Wargaming Total Immersion Technologies The Power of Analog Immersion Cultivating Immersion Suspending Players Inside Immersion The Politics of Immersion Desubjectification: Suspending the Reflective Subject Resubjectification: Producing Reflexes in the Subject Deconstructing Immersion Conclusion Conclusion An Academic Field of Wargaming Deconstructing Deconstructive Play References Index