K. Arai - Böcker

This comprehensive and immensely readable volume takes the reader to the cutting edge of the field. Like the conference from which it stems, the book has extremely broad coverage in terms of the topics addressed, the disciplines from which the authors come and to which their papers contribute, and the geographic sites of origin of the ideas and findings. The conference presentations, of a high quality in their initial form, have been wonderfully crafted by the authors with the excellent guidance of the editors. It is a timely addition to the literature and belongs on every gamer's bookshelf. --Cathy Stein Greenblat, Professor of Sociology, Rutgers University, New Jersey With contributions from leading international researchers in simulation and gaming, this book provides readers with up-to-date coverage of simulation and gaming as a professional endeavor rather than just as a set of subject-relevant techniques. Organized into four parts (applications, policy exercises, research, and professional matters), the book covers such topics as the application of simulation/games to specific purposes (such as international conflict, citizen participation, etc.); research in the areas of business performance and discourse analysis; and debriefing, ethics, and the state of simulation/gaming in various countries. Simulation and Gaming Across Disciplines and Cultures offers readers a cohesive picture of the breadth and richness of the field of simulation and gaming.

This book should be of interest to industrial, mechanical and manufacturing engineers.

This book presents a current research scope and perspective of Simulation and Gaming. Theoretical problems of Simulation and Gaming will be examined with a view to improving the social sciences through the introduction of the techniques and concepts of Simulation and Gaming. The fields of economics, political science, psychology and business management can all be radically improved by introducing such techniques of Simulation and Gaming as the Agent-Based Modelling. Other important topics are the analysis of philosophical foundations in Simulation and Gaming as an academic discipline. The ever growing and massive popularity of PC and arcade games cannot be ignored. Their potential as agents of education and their essentially violent nature raise many ethical and moral problems that need to be addressed.

This collection of excellent papers cultivates a new perspective on agent-based social system sciences, gaming simulation, and their hybridization. Most of the papers included here were presented in the special session titled Agent-Based Modeling Meets Gaming Simulation at ISAGA2003, the 34th annual conference of the International Simulation and Gaming Association (ISAGA) at Kazusa Akademia Park in Kisarazu, Chiba, Japan, August 25–29, 2003. This post-proceedings was supported by the twenty-?rst century COE (Centers of Excellence) program Creation of Agent-Based Social Systems Sciences (ABSSS), established at the Tokyo Institute of Technology in 2004. The present volume comprises papers submitted to the special session of ISAGA2003 and provides a good example of the diverse scope and standard of research achieved in simulation and gaming today. The theme of the special session at ISAGA2003 was Agent-Based Modeling Meets Gaming Simulation. Nowadays, agent-based simulation is becoming very popular for modeling and solving complex social phenomena. It is also used to arrive at practical solutions to social problems. At the same time, however, the validity of simulation does not exist in the magni?cence of the model. R. Axelrod stresses the simplicity of the agent-based simulation model through the “Keep it simple, stupid” (KISS) principle: As an ideal, simple modeling is essential.