MIT Press is putting out a book on wargaming

Started by besilarius, October 29, 2015, 06:25:20 AM

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besilarius

October 29, 2015, 06:25:20 AM
https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/zones-control

Not sure what to make of this.  If MIT has deigned to notice wargames, does our hobby meet the criteria of being "respectable" and having value to the Intelligentsia?
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bayonetbrant

#1
October 29, 2015, 06:48:18 AM
I know most of those authors, and have worked with a few of them. They are wargamers through and through.

They're the kind of gamers that will sit down and play with you for 18 hours at a convention without batting an eye
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mirth

#2
October 29, 2015, 08:48:06 AM
Quote from: bayonetbrant on October 29, 2015, 06:48:18 AM
I know most of those authors, and have worked with a few of them. They are wargamers through and through.

They're the kind of gamers that will sit down and play with you for 18 hours at a convention without batting an eye

NERDS!!!!
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bayonetbrant

#3
October 29, 2015, 09:01:25 AM
Like you're not one of them
The key to surviving this site is to not say something which ends up as someone's tag line - Steelgrave

"their citizens (all of them counted as such) glorified their mythology of 'rights'...and lost track of their duties. No nation, so constituted, can endure." Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers

mirth

#4
October 29, 2015, 09:03:41 AM
I enjoy the irony
"45 minutes of pooping Tribbles being juggled by a drunken Horta would be better than Season 1 of TNG." - SirAndrewD

"you don't look at the mantelpiece when you're poking the fire" - Bawb

"Can't 'un' until you 'pre', son." - Gus

bbmike

#5
October 29, 2015, 09:52:45 AM
Quote from: besilarius on October 29, 2015, 06:25:20 AM
https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/zones-control

Not sure what to make of this.  If MIT has deigned to notice wargames, does our hobby meet the criteria of being "respectable" and having value to the Intelligentsia?

No, this is more like Jane Goodall noticing the chimps.  :P
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-Clifford D. Simak

bayonetbrant

#6
October 29, 2015, 10:19:30 AM
Quote from: besilarius on October 29, 2015, 06:25:20 AMIf MIT has deigned to notice wargames, does our hobby meet the criteria of being "respectable" and having value to the Intelligentsia?

The editor (Matthew Kirschenbaum) is a longtime DC-area wargamer, but he's also on faculty at U of Maryland, so he understands the path to getting the book published like this.

Of the contributors, Jeremy Antley, Larry Bond, Lee Brimmicombe-Wood, Rex Brynen, Luke Caldwell, Stephen V. Cole, Greg Costikyan, James F. Dunnigan,  A. Scott Glancy, Troy Goodfellow, Mark Herman, Mark Mahaffey, Brien J. Miller, Joseph Miranda,  Peter P. Perla, Jon Peterson, John Prados, Ted S. Raicer, Volko Ruhnke, Philip Sabin, Marcus Schulzke, John Tiller, J. R. Tracy, Brian Train, and Charles Vasey are all published designers that I know off the top of my head.  Many of the rest are professionals working for the DoD or similar agencies.

But the majority of these guys are actual wargamers that have a long time love of slinging dice over hexes, counters, and occasional bits & bytes.
The key to surviving this site is to not say something which ends up as someone's tag line - Steelgrave

"their citizens (all of them counted as such) glorified their mythology of 'rights'...and lost track of their duties. No nation, so constituted, can endure." Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers

bbmike

#7
October 29, 2015, 10:38:43 AM
Steven V. Cole = Star Fleet Battles
"My life is spent in one long effort to escape from the commonplace of existence."
-Sherlock Holmes

"You know, just once I'd like to meet an alien menace that wasn't immune to bullets."
-Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart

"There's a horror movie called Alien? That's really offensive. No wonder everyone keeps invading you!"
-The Doctor

"Before Man goes to the stars he should learn how to live on Earth."
-Clifford D. Simak

Barthheart

#8
October 29, 2015, 11:07:40 AM
Michael Peck (Diced T) is in that list too.

bayonetbrant

#9
October 29, 2015, 11:22:26 AM
Quote from: Barthheart on October 29, 2015, 11:07:40 AM
Michael Peck (Diced T) is in that list too.

yep, he's a Friend of Grog, but I don't think he's a published designer.
The key to surviving this site is to not say something which ends up as someone's tag line - Steelgrave

"their citizens (all of them counted as such) glorified their mythology of 'rights'...and lost track of their duties. No nation, so constituted, can endure." Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers
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