Using Commercial-off-the-Shelf Computer Games to Train and Educate Complexity and Complex Decision-Making

This paper proposes that the U.S. Army use commercial-off-the-shelf COTS computer games to train and educate U.S. Army leaders in complexity and complex decision-making. Computer games provide an interactive environment where U.S. Army leaders can experience complex situations and problems and then make complex decisions. Additionally, by immersing U.S. Army leaders into a virtual complex environment, Army leaders have an environment that is free from risk to make decisions. Moreover, timely feedback that computer games provide, allow leaders to see and learn about the intended and unintended consequences of their decisions which creates a learning experience where leaders can innovate and reflect on decisions. This paper links intellectual capacity - the key leadership attribute that affects decision-making - to complexity and complex decision-making. U.S. Army doctrine breaks intellectual capacity into four characteristics mental agility, innovation, sound judgment, and domain knowledge. This paper argues that by understanding complexity a leader can make better complex decisions and thereby become more mentally agile, innovative, use sound judgment, and increase domain knowledge. Next this paper presents different classes of computer games, showing how they contain different aspects of complexity and how each game may be used to train and educate U.S. Army leaders in complexity and complex decision-making. Finally, this paper discusses how a COTS computer game training program fits into the Army Training Model and the benefits of using COTS computer games for education and training. The key finding of this monograph is that the U.S. Army has an opportunity to exploit the benefits of COTS computer games to educate and train leaders. COTS computer games provide a method to educate U.S. Army leaders about complexity and provide a dynamic, immersive environ