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What good are games? This full-day workshop introduces participants to some uses of gaming in current approaches to international, national, and human security challenges. "Serious games" range from tabletop exercises to multiday immersive role-playing simulations; players may be military officers or activist leaders as well as teachers and students in many parts of our own university. We'll talk about the value (and possible limitations) of games for strategic thinking, professional socialization, research and critique, teambuilding, and more.
Mershon faculty and grad students will be joined by guests Filip Ejdus, director of the Serious Games Lab at the University of Belgrade, and Cameron Hunter of the Ritual Deterrence Project at the University of Copenhagen. The workshop is an extension of the Scenario Writing Seminar currently being taught in preparation for Mershon's biennial National Security Simulation--coming up again in October 2025!
Schedule:
MORNING: GAMES AND SOCIALIZATION
8:45AM Welcome and introduction
Dorothy Noyes, Director, Mershon Center
9:00-10:15AM Wargaming: strategy and ritual
Cameron Hunter, University of Copenhagen
Coffee and carbohydrates
10:30-11:30AM Professional socialization in the National Security Simulation
Dakota Rudesill, Mershon Center/Moritz College of Law
11:30AM-12:30PM Games in the international relations classroom
Laurie Georges and Christian Godwin, Political Science
Lunch
AFTERNOON: GAMES AND TRANSFORMATION
1:30-2:30PM Peacegaming: a Cyprus simulation in Istanbul
Teri Murphy, Associate Director, Mershon Center
Coffee and carbohydrates
2:45-4:15PM Games inside and outside the classroom in Serbia
Filip Ejdus, University of Belgrade
4:15-4:45PM Closing remarks and discussion
Jennifer Mitzen, Political Science, and Dorothy Noyes, Mershon Center/English/Comparative Studies
