The long history of gaming in military training

There is a long history of the dual-use of games in both the military and the entertainment applications. This has taken the form of sand tables, miniatures, board games, and computer games. The current tension between entertainment and military applications of games is just the return of similar concerns that surrounded the gaming tools and technologies of previous generations. Dynamic representations of the physical world are interesting and useful tools in a number of fields, to include the military, city planning, architecture, education, and entertainment. Computer games are tools that allow all of these audiences to accomplish similar goals.