Image
credit: Project on Nuclear Gaming (PoNG) at the University of California,
Berkeley
SIGNAL, (Strategic
Interaction Game between Nuclear Armed Lands), developed by the Project
on Nuclear Gaming (PoNG) - a multidisciplinary team formed by
researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories - was selected as a
finalist in the 2019
Serious Games Showcase and Challenge in the Student
Category.
Funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York,
the Project on Nuclear Gaming (PoNG) studies nuclear deterrence and escalation
dynamics using three types of analytic games: scenario-based discussion, a board
game and the online version of the board game, SIGNAL, designed to
recruit players from across the world to simulate conventional and nuclear
conflict.
SIGNAL began as a board game
before making the jump online.
Image credit: Lorenzo Vidali, Sandia National Laboratories
SIGNAL online game. Credit:
Lorenzo Vidali, Sandia National Laboratories
SIGNAL is a 3-player
experimental wargame that tries to simulate decision-making in the high stakes
scenario of nuclear war for research purposes. It is part video game, part
experiment, and part data collection tool. The hope is that, by observing
people playing the game and collecting the data it generates, PoNG can learn
about human decision-making during nuclear conflicts.
In the game, 3 countries (some armed with nuclear weapons), attempt to
achieve national goals through diplomacy and conflict. The game consists of 5
rounds with each round having 3 phases:
Resolution Phase
- The Diplomatic/Signaling Phase: players signal their intentions by placing signaling tokens on the game map, staging capabilities, making trades, and engaging in diplomacy with one another.
- The Resolution Phase: the players execute actions prepared during the Diplomatic/Signaling phase.
- The Upkeep Phase: each player reconciles with the result of the Resolution Phase.
Signaling Phase
Image credit: Project on Nuclear Gaming (PoNG) at UC Berkeley
Resolution Phase
Image credit: Project on Nuclear Gaming (PoNG) at UC Berkeley
Upkeep Phase
Image credit: Project on Nuclear Gaming (PoNG) at UC Berkeley
During the game, the three players compete with one and other. The goal
of the game is to maximize resources available to your country, maximize the
amount of infrastructure built in your country, and ensure the territorial
integrity of your country through diplomacy and conflict. The player who maximizes
these 3 criteria the best wins.
Players who are more proficient in leveraging the concepts of
signaling, deterrence, and escalation to their strategic benefit are more likely
to gain victory over the other players in the game. Performance in the game is
an indicative measure of how well they are able to translate ideas and concepts
into strategies.
End
Screen - Image credit: Project on Nuclear Gaming (PoNG)at UC Berkeley
Through engaging in diplomacy and conflict within the game, players are
introduced to key concepts in modern international diplomacy and conflict such
as deterrence, conflict escalation, and signaling. The kind of strategic
thinking necessary to be successful in SIGNAL is the
same kind of strategic thinking that security practitioners in US government
consider when forming military doctrine, engaging in international diplomacy,
and building strategic alliances. The game is accessible in such a way that
both security experts and those unfamiliar with international politics can
learn about these concepts.