"The 5×5—Is it a game or is it real? Simulations and" Topic

…wargaming in cyber

"In the summer of 2002, the United States Armed Forces conducted the Millennium Challenge (MC02), a three-week exercise simulating a military confrontation between "Blue" forces, the United States, and "Red" forces, a fictitious formidable Persian Gulf state. Consisting of computer simulations and live exercises, the joint, 13,000-person, $250 USD million wargame's objective was to put the United States military's "transformation"––a shift toward more network-centric operations––to the test. Aside from its size and cost, the wargame was notable in how it revealed organizational and tactical deficiencies of US forces. Retired Lieutenant General Paul Van Riper, having played the part of a "Red" commander, told the Guardian afterward that US forces were ill-prepared for battle. Riper's forces were so successful in fact, that they forced a reset of the game under new and more Blue force friendly rules.

While not all come close to the scale of MC02, wargames are a mechanism for states to understand how their adversaries might operate, and––perhaps equally as important––how they themselves coordinate, organize, and respond in crisis. Cyber simulations can be helpful, not just militarily, but also in performing tests that could be devastating if not impossible to replicate in the real world. Take the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's "black start" exercise on Plum Island, New York for example, where engineers worked to stave off attacks on a makeshift electric utility, without damaging the actual electrical grid…"
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Armand

Best comment:

Haggman: "If the level of realism raises game complexity to the point that the game becomes inaccessible. To paraphrase Phil Sabin: a simple game that is played will always be more instructive than a complex game that is not played."

(smile)

Armand