Contagion
Government Category
By the Naval Postgraduate School Department of Defense Analysis and Global ECCO
Description: Contagion introduces players to how terrorists spread their ideologies and how states counter that with their own ideology. Both sides try to gain as much popular support/loyalty as possible, all while also denying their opponent support. With limited resources, players must choose whether to defend their gains against attacks or grow their support in new areas. They must also weigh the value of promoting their own message versus undermining their opponent’s message.
Skills and Ideas Taught: Speed and Maneuverability, Centralized vs Decentralized Strategies, Leadership Decapitation and Strategic Communications
Goal or Challenge: Introduce or reinforce general concepts around messaging and counter messaging to combat the spread of violent extremist ideology.This is a strategic level game that forces players to make trade-offs while dealing with limited resources. Ideally it will be played in teams and provide thoughtful discussion on the topic.
Primary Audience: Military and Civilian Equivalents focused on areas of Combating Terrorism
Assessment Approach:Victory vs. Defeat, During the facilitated face to face After Action Reviews
Game Engine: Node JS/HTML 5
Operating System: Web
Platform: PC and/or Mac, modern version of chrome
Special Hardware: Firefox/Chrome & Internet Access