Why the CIA uses board games to train its officers
Dungeons and Dragons, Pokémon card games and
role-playing games are more than entertainment -they're inspiration for the CIA.
David Clopper, senior collection analyst with 16 years' experience at the CIA,
also serves as a game maker for the agency. From card games to board
games, Clopper creates games to train CIA staffers including intelligence
officers and political analysts for real-world situations.
"Gaming is part of the human condition. Why not take advantage of that and
incorporate into the way we learn?" Clopper said Sunday at a games-themed
panel discussion at the South by Southwest Interactive technology festival.
Clopper and other CIA officers discussed how the agency uses games to
teach strategy, intelligence gathering and collaboration.
Clopper, who began making training programs based on popular tabletop
games in 2008, described some of his creations for the CIA.
In "Collection," Clopper's first CIA game, teams of analysts work together to
solve international crises against a ticking clock. His second title, "Collection
Deck," is a Pokémon-like card game in which where each card represents
either an intelligence collection strategy or a hurdle like red tape or
bureaucracy.
For instance, a player could lay out a card to collect intelligence via satellite
photos, but an opponent could block them by playing a "ground station failure"
card. It's meant to mimic situations analysts might run into in their actual work.
Also speaking on the panel was Volko Ruhnke, who is an intelligence
educator at the CIA and a freelance game designer. Ruhnke said he is
particularly interested in one type of game: a simulation tabletop game to train
analysts and help with analytic tasks. It could help forecast complex situations
by forcing players to handle multiple scenarios simultaneously.
Ruhnke himself created a commercial board game to simulate the
Afghanistan conflict and walk players through military, political, and economic
issues in the region. It gives players "a much more dynamic understanding of
the issues of modern Afghanistan," Ruhnke said, adding that a similar game
could be of use internally at the CIA as well.
Old school games are the main inspiration for popular training programs -- for
now. But analysts expect to be using virtual reality gaming in training
programs soon. Multiple branches of the military have used VR training for
years, immersing service members in real life experiences through visual and
audio simulations.
"The sooner we can get involved in using VR in games, the better," Rachel
Grunspan, Chief Strategy Officer at a digital innovation organization inside the
CIA, said during the panel discussion.. "You want to get their heads inside the
intelligence question you're trying to answer, and VR does an amazing job
doing that."
1. What are three things that the article indicates board games help
teach its officers?
2. What advantage will VR style training bring about once it is more
utilized within law enforcement and the military?