War games

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The genre of war games (also war games ) comprises a wide spectrum of game forms, ranging from childish Indian games to knight games to terrain games with modern weapons and shooting with colored ammunition ( gotcha ).

The term also applies to corresponding games with table figures, by means of which historical battles can be re-enacted or fantasy battles can be designed.

Finally, include party games like dodge ball game , board games such as chess or computer games such as the Total War - or the Battlefield series to this game category. The singular usage of the word war game identifies a single game from the genre of war games.

Conceptual limitation

Tabletop playing field (Warhammer) with fantasy armies
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Historical war game chess: the "order of battle"

Template: chess board / maintenance / alt

Board game around 1940
Landquisition game (board game 1957)
"Breaking chains" or (historically) "The emperor sends his soldiers out"

According to international law, war is defined as an armed conflict between tribes, peoples or states, i.e. between larger groups of people. War games are, by definition, game forms that symbolically depict the corresponding fighting.

In the classic war games, troop units march, i. H. entire formations of fighters such as Indian tribes , Amazon contingents , armies of knights or tin soldiers against each other. Sea battles with ship squadrons and air commands can also form the scenario. In the cyberspace age, the war game is often played with galactic, animal or other fantasy armies. In chess and other types of board games, the opponents of war are symbolically embodied by individual pieces (king, bishop, rook, pawn).

In a broader sense, the term war games today also subsumes games in which warlike actions by small groups / ( command units ), individual actions and actual or symbolic weapons are used. Superheroes fight with magical weapons such as laser beams and acrobatic stunt acts against whole hordes of attackers.

Finally, in the public consciousness, the choice of words also plays a decisive role for classification under the war games. According to empirical studies by Warwitz / Rudolf, the old party game The Kaiser sends his soldiers out under this name is immediately understood as a war game and largely rejected. Under the changed name of chain breaking, however, the same game is no longer perceived and fully accepted as a war game even by avowed pacifists .

The combat-oriented sports games show an unmistakable similarity to the ritualized war games both with their vocabulary (shot, bomb, attack strategy, defense, tactics) and with their potential for aggression ( hooligan battles ). Due to their different game concept, however, the game system assigns them to their own game genre.

The military war game (maneuver), on the other hand, is a special form and a border area of ​​gaming. It has less of a game character than of a serious nature, since military maneuvers serve to simulate and practice the reality of war with real weapons and mostly live ammunition as realistically as possible. War training in the form of maneuvers is therefore not included in game theory in the game systematics.

The war game (management game) developed in the 19th century was an exercise for general staff and senior officers , in which operations of larger army bodies were carried out with the help of troop symbols on maps or in the sandpit . From this game the conflict simulation games (board games) were developed in the 20th century, primarily for entertainment .

character

In contrast to sports games, in war games the committed fight becomes war, the opponent becomes the enemy, the competition (the match) becomes a battle, the playing field becomes a battlefield. Both game genres are characterized by a high potential for aggression. They “hit” or “kill”. The combative argument remains symbolic in nature.

War game with wooden and cardboard swords

War games differ significantly from real (bloody) war because of this symbolic character. War and war games take place on completely different levels. Both levels must be understood as different levels by both the players and the observers and critics. They must not be confused and not exceeded in action.

A child who aims at a playmate with a stick that has been picked up is well aware of his symbolic act without consequences . It doesn't really want to kill, and neither does it kill. A person who aims and shoots at another with a sharp weapon kills and is also aware of this. The aim of education should therefore not be to ostracize the harmless play of symbols, but rather to teach and understand the ability to differentiate between play and reality.

distribution

War games are extremely popular and more widespread than many suspect. The game research found that almost every person - consciously or unconsciously - has been practiced in some form already in his life war games or still practiced.

The fascination stems primarily from the adventure character , from the high potential for tension and the possibility of exercising power and enjoying superiority. Even having a weapon plays a not inconsiderable role that increases self-esteem. The war player feels strongly challenged and rewarded accordingly in the event of victory. Since the actual war game is about a functioning interaction of the fighting unit and at the same time fighting the enemy units as effectively as possible, it places considerable physical, mental, intellectual, strategic or character demands on the lone fighter, depending on the type of game.

The rejection of any war game is usually not justified in terms of content, but results from the awareness of parallels to real war. Strangely enough, people in war regions and times of war deal with the children's war games much more freely than in peace and peaceful zones.

evaluation

War games have a bad reputation , especially in Germany, not only with ambitious pacifists , but also with many parents, politicians and teachers. Almost every gun rampage brings the war games under suspicion of having prepared real killing. It is overlooked that playing war millions of times a day does not lead to the crossing of boundaries.

A quick, general judgment is not supported by the results of game research and, as Sutton-Smith already noted, is usually based on insufficient knowledge of the game phenomenon and an (unproven) negative transfer assumption .

Even if it is recognized that any action, including that in play, can potentially influence people (keyword learning games ), neither war nor peace games have conclusive or even half-way probable consequences on the behavioral profile of children and adolescents.

Game research takes the high level of vulnerability and the traumatization of most of the elderly, which begins with the word war, seriously. However, it must not obstruct sober, critical access to the game genre 'war games'. As a rule, the psychological background turns out to be open or latent in the assessment. There is usually a more emotional than objective defense against the phenomenon, as game researchers were able to prove by simply changing the name of individual games. Even the strict opponent of war games must therefore face a factual examination of the phenomenon of children's games and the scientific research results and self-critically review their arguments:

The game researcher Gisela Wegener-Spöhring, on the basis of her empirical surveys with Westphalian primary school children, came to the conclusion that children growing up normally can differentiate between war and war games. Both levels do not touch with them. The children strictly reject real war, but the vast majority of them love exciting war games and would like more war toys . For experts, this is by no means a contradiction, but is explained by the different meanings and levels of reality. The probability that a war-playing child will later choose a military profession or even develop into a militarist is statistically negligibly small compared to that of becoming a peaceful craftsman or office worker . For this decision, predisposition and social character are given more importance than the children's play needs.

War games can also not be prohibited sensibly, since they correspond to a part of the everyday reality of life and thus also to the children's urge to depict. Similar to the doctor, parents or school games, according to Warwitz / Rudolf, the game does not create the reality of life, but, conversely, leads reality to the creation of quasi-situations in the game. From the point of view of play education, this can also have an anti-aggression function and can therefore be educationally desirable.

Decisive for dealing with the war game it is accordingly to ensure that the game level is not left in the direction of inhuman and value-destroying real actions. The category of first-person shooters (also disparagingly called killer games ), which is often deliberately only murdered, which should not be confused with war games , forms - apart from its primitive game concept - a critical limit area. It is also seen as decisive that mentally unstable children and young people in particular must not be given any access to dangerous weapons. Here, the immediate adult environment has the main responsibility.

See also

literature

  • Barbara Sichtermann: ... because it doesn't hurt anyone. The symbolism of the war game. In: The time . Oct 25, 1991, p. 106.
  • Brian Sutton-Smith: The Dialectics of Game: A Theory of Game, Games and Sport . K. Hofmann, Schorndorf 1978, ISBN 3-7780-6591-2 .
  • Brian Sutton-Smith: Games and Sports as Potential for Renewal . In: Andreas Flitner (ed.): The children's game. 5th edition. Munich 1988, page 64.
  • Gerhard Truig; Walter Ludewig: German Dictionary. 1st edition. Mosaik Vlg., Gütersloh 1970, column 2167, ISBN 3-570-06588-X .
  • Siegbert A. Warwitz, Anita Rudolf: War and peace games. In: The sense of playing. Reflections and ideas for games, 4th edition, Baltmannsweiler 2016, ISBN 978-3-8340-1664-5 , pages 126–151.
  • Gisela Wegener-Spöhring: The meaning of "war toys" in the world of elementary school children. In: Journal for Pedagogy. No. 6/1986, pages 797-810.
  • Gisela Wegener-Spöhring: War toys and computer games in the world of elementary school children: a crisis of “balanced aggressiveness”? In: Titus Guldimann: Education of 4- to 8-year-old children. Waxmann-Verlag, 2005, pp. 169-188, ISBN 3-8309-1533-0 .

Individual evidence

  1. Gerhard Wahrig, Walter Ludewig: German Dictionary. 1st edition. Mosaik Vlg., Gütersloh 1970, ISBN 3-570-06588-X , column 2167.
  2. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz, Anita Rudolf: From the sense of playing. Reflections and game ideas. 4th edition, Baltmannsweiler 2016, pp. 254–255.
  3. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz, Anita Rudolf: From the sense of playing. Reflections and game ideas. 4th edition. Schneider-Verlag, Hohengehren 2016, pages 126–128.
  4. Edmund Mayer (edler von): A study on the war game. 1874, page 13.
  5. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz, Anita Rudolf: From the sense of playing. Reflections and game ideas. 4th edition, Baltmannsweiler 2016, ISBN 978-3-8340-1664-5 , p. 134.
  6. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz, Anita Rudolf: War and Peace Games / Assessment. In: The sense of playing. Reflections and game ideas. 4th edition, Baltmannsweiler 2016, ISBN 978-3-8340-1664-5 , pp. 146-148.
  7. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz, Anita Rudolf: From the sense of playing. Reflections and game ideas. 4th edition, Baltmannsweiler 2016, ISBN 978-3-8340-1664-5 , p. 147.
  8. Brian Sutton-Smith: The Dialectics of Game: A Theory of Game, Games, and Sports . Hofmann, Schorndorf 1978, pp. 64-66.
  9. Gisela Wegener-Spöhring: Aggression in children's play. Laying the groundwork in the theories of play and exploring their manifestations. Weinheim 1995, p. 10.
  10. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz, Anita Rudolf: The fascination of the war game. In: The sense of playing. Reflections and game ideas. 4th edition, Baltmannsweiler 2016, ISBN 978-3-8340-1664-5 , pp. 130-131.
  11. ^ B. Sutton-Smith: Games and sports as potential for renewal . In: Andreas Flitner (Ed.): The children's game. 5th edition. Munich 1988, p. 64.
  12. Brian Sutton-Smith: The Dialectics of Game: A Theory of Game, Games, and Sports . Hofmann, Schorndorf 1978, p. 64.
  13. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz, Anita Rudolf: War and Peace Games. In: The sense of playing. Reflections and game ideas. 4th edition, Baltmannsweiler 2016, ISBN 978-3-8340-1664-5 , pp. 146-148.
  14. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz, Anita Rudolf: War and Peace Games. In: The sense of playing. Reflections and game ideas. 3. Edition. Schneider-Verlag, Hohengehren 2014, pages 126–128.
  15. Gisela Wegener-Spöhring: The meaning of "war toys" in the world of elementary school children. In: Journal for Pedagogy. No. 6/1986, pp. 235f.
  16. Gisela Wegener-Spöhring: The meaning of "war toys" in the world of elementary school children. In: Journal for Pedagogy. No. 6/1986, p. 243.
  17. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz, Anita Rudolf: From the sense of playing. Reflections and game ideas. 4th edition, Baltmannsweiler 2016, ISBN 978-3-8340-1664-5 , pp. 134-136.
  18. a b Barbara Sichtermann: ... because it doesn't hurt anyone. The symbolism of the war game. In: The time . Oct 25, 1991, p. 106.
  19. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz, Anita Rudolf: The fascination of the war game In: From the sense of playing. Reflections and game ideas. 3rd edition 2014. Schneider-Verlag, Hohengehren, page 130.
  20. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz, Anita Rudolf: The assessment of the war game. In: The sense of playing. Reflections and game ideas. 3. Edition. Schneider-Verlag, Hohengehren 2014, pages 131-135.
  21. Gisela Wegener-Spöhring: The meaning of "war toys" in the world of elementary school children. In: Journal for Pedagogy. No. 6/1986, pages 797-810.

Web links

Wiktionary: War game  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations