Has there been any research on the educational value of tactics/strategy games?

[ind33d]

When I started playing Mechanicus after XCOM, I noticed that my tactical capabilities were intact even though all of the gameplay mechanics were different. Generating value, maximizing your resources, long-term strategy, etc. are consistent from one game to another, and would also apply to real life. I can say from experience that being good at poker carries over to day trading just like being good at Magic: the Gathering makes you good at Slay the Spire, even though the games have nothing in common. Have there been studies about this?

 

[udm]

Not to my knowledge in formal academics (I do a lot of research on education), but from observation there's definitely a strong correlation between game preference and demonstrable intellect, so people who prefer tactics games over dudebroshooters like Cowadoody tend to display less mental retardation.

 

[Sukhāvatī]

There are militarily official war games which are most likely to have research on them; don't know if that information has been released.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_wargaming

 

[JamesDixon]

When I started playing Mechanicus after XCOM, I noticed that my tactical capabilities were intact even though all of the gameplay mechanics were different. Generating value, maximizing your resources, long-term strategy, etc. are consistent from one game to another, and would also apply to real life. I can say from experience that being good at poker carries over to day trading just like being good at Magic: the Gathering makes you good at Slay the Spire, even though the games have nothing in common. Have there been studies about this?

Yes, in the modern age it all started with Little Wars by H.G. Wells published in 1913. Prior to that the very first wargame was created by Prussian Johann Christian Ludwig Hellwig who invented Kriegsspiel beginning in the 1810s. Wargames have been apart of military college curriculum now for almost two centuries.

​

 

[Tweed]

I've been playing almost nothing but strategy and tactical games lately, I must have a super big brain.

 

[ind33d]

I've been playing almost nothing but strategy and tactical games lately, I must have a super big brain.

wargames would be a good proxy for IQ in countries where such tests are illegal. big think

 

[Pocgels]

It's been researched for Real-time strategy.

Games like slay the spire trick players into doing math and risk assessment, but I'm not sure if the real-world analogues are close enough for the exact thing you're practicing to carry over. Games like XCOM and Mechanicus are essentially so similar that I think you're just picking up experience, rather than a boost in any sort of cognitive ability. (Same goes for Slay the Spire and MtG, they're only dissimilar when your scope is "card-based games") Since you said education I'm not sure which - mental ability or regular learning - you were after.

I have learned a lot from reading the flavor in historical games, not always 100% sure for the accuracy but I'd say that's a sort of education.

 

[darkpatriot]

There are militarily official war games which are most likely to have research on them; don't know if that information has been released.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_wargaming

Military wargaming is more about providing a way to simulate results when practicing normal military decision making processes. They aren't really games you play to practice being better at strategy and tactics (although they still can be used to teach that at a basic level, it isn't their primary purpose in most cases), because no matter how good the simulation is, it isn't real life. Just because a tactic work in the simulation is no guarantee it would work in real life. Military wargames are usually more abstract and simplified than many commercial games are. That is why they make extensive use of human referees to adjust results from the simulation when they are deemed too unrealistic or to make decisions about things the simulation doesn't factor in or simulate.

But that simulation allows command staff to get together to practice and get more proficient at their command staff processes without actually needing to have ships sail around, ground units go to the field, or have real aircraft fly missions. Although sometimes wargames are hybrid affairs with some portion of it being real units in the field and other portions being simulated.

War gaming is also used to help evaluate plans during decision making. Part of the modern military decision making process is wargaming out potential plans to see how they actually hold up in simulations and identify which plans are the better options and what some potential issues are ahead of time.

 

[ind33d]

There are militarily official war games which are most likely to have research on them; don't know if that information has been released.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_wargaming

Military wargaming is more about providing a way to simulate results when practicing normal military decision making processes. They aren't really games you play to practice being better at strategy and tactics (although they still can be used to teach that at a basic level, it isn't their primary purpose in most cases), because no matter how good the simulation is, it isn't real life. Just because a tactic work in the simulation is no guarantee it would work in real life. Military wargames are usually more abstract and simplified than many commercial games are. That is why they make extensive use of human referees to adjust results from the simulation when they are deemed too unrealistic or to make decisions about things the simulation doesn't factor in or simulate.

But that simulation allows command staff to get together to practice and get more proficient at their command staff processes without actually needing to have ships sail around, ground units go to the field, or have real aircraft fly missions. Although sometimes wargames are hybrid affairs with some portion of it being real units in the field and other portions being simulated.

War gaming is also used to help evaluate plans during decision making. Part of the modern military decision making process is wargaming out potential plans to see how they actually hold up in simulations and identify which plans are the better options and what some potential issues are ahead of time.

Even Counter-Strike probably improves combat skills. You develop a sixth sense about where enemies are hiding, how to clear rooms, covering your squadmates, etc. So a full military simulation would probably involve a Risk-style map and macro elements in addition to making the individual skirmishes playable, sort of like EVE Online was planning to do with its FPS