POINT OF VIEW-aug-harmony-game

Wargames or Harmony games as learning tools for survival. 

F. Vandamme, M. Kaloev, L. Wang

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Harmony a by-product of accommodation, adaptation
Harmony is a by-product of efforts by the group to adapt and /or to accommodate to the environments and to adapt and/or to accommodate the environment to the group.

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War too a by-product
War too is a by-product of efforts by the group to adapt and /or to accommodate to the environments and to adapt and/or to accommodate the environment to the group.
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3 Why adaptation and accommodation
Adaptation and accommodation is vital as the environment as well as the actors are continuously changing. The environment, the groups, the individuals are possible targets for change and accommodation. Those changes can be met by adopting several strategies and methods, like creating safety by numbers , by building complex social structures, by creating or changing new skills for individuals, etc.. 

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The first straightforward answer
War is the first straightforward answer but the result is very risky, and is mostly destructive for the opponents and for the environment, for the bystanders in the field and eventually for the warmakers. One can even add that war is mostly a short term solution that is easier accepted by groups, in the name of group values, order, safety, national pride , personal sacrifice etc.. Another problem is that it is in general rather easy to start a war, but very difficult to stop a war. Alternatives for war require much more understanding of the situations, efforts to build plans and require a long time and a lot of investment to be executed.

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Games and their relevance
Modern games are a kind of art. They give us ways to understand and/or see the world in different ways. War games are popular for a lot of reasons. They can give players a “healthy” way to learn skills to deal with emotion and frustration in safe environments of virtual worlds. Nevertheless they can also function as a preparation for the real world wars, even to make these more attractive and acceptable. Even worse these wargames can even jointless be integrated in real wars with robots, AI and drones… Pacifistic games are also possible. Although not that popular as war games, pacifistic games can be very successful and fascinating too. They can be intended to “tap” on inner need for relaxation, peace, harmony, development of the player(s), or function as complex social puzzle that reward and encourage developing skills for creating, relaxation and harmony on a lot of different levels and targets, environments etc..

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Harmony as a safer solution
Any way a more sophisticated and in general more safe solution than war, is Harmony. 

In harmony one tries to get (1) coexistence and (2) cooperation between the several parties concerned in the field, so that each party can have (3) subsistence, (4) development, (5) progress, with conserving a vital (6) "dynamic equilibrium" between the several parties, accepting the differences and (7) values, (8) solutions, (9) targets, (10) activities, (11) behaviours, etc…

Diversity/plurality is very important for the environment. Therefore in Harmony, the value of pluralism and diversity is very vital. In view of the future changes in the environment, it is important that we have a rich variety of diversity. Loss of pluralism or diversity is very endangering and has to be avoided as much as possible without endangering too much the own survival.

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We start with three teams with a different religion A/B/C.

*Each team has a set of tools, resources of means, a set of values, properties, 3 sets of collaborators.

*One team can cooperate with the other two teams with some actors of the team. Moreover they can kill them, get in prison, exchange tools etc.

The target of each team is: survival of its own team, but also support the survival of the other teams in view of sustaining diversity and pluralism.

*A session has a playtime of 25 min. At the end of each session each team gets a score. Some teams can become stronger. Some team can be weaker, another eliminated. Moreover the diversity can be enlarged or can be diminished… In function of all this the score is generated.

*A new session of 25 min. is started and again a score is generated.

*After 10 sessions the final score is made.

Now the evaluation and assessment phase is started. Which errors were made that diminished the diversity, what enlarged the diversity? Which teams were eliminated and why? What mistakes they made or were made by their opponents.

An interesting extra dimension for this game, could be the communication between the teams (e.g. diplomacy) which try the other teams to adopt the harmony targets, or to adapt their own harmony strategy, so that it permits them to better survive, but also to help the other team to have a better chance to sustain, to survive and to develop…

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"Big Brother" or a "Big Brother Robot"

Here also one can introduce several specific options, targets tools, for instance to avoid the danger of getting a "Big Brother", or a "Big Brother Robot", which is able to control the communication network between the several teams, or the vital internal communication inside the different teams.

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Intergeneration
Some authors suggest that some knowhow and behaviour concerning intergeneration forms of cooperation between members of primitive cultures (native knowhow in Australia, Africa, America…) could function and deliver efficient solutions to resist the growing impact of "big brother" robots technologies, and even to defeat them by overcoming their methods. In these meta-harmony games, this can be tried out, tested, assessed, exercised…This is a de facto illustration of the relevance of conservation of diversity

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Embedded harmony games:
E-AH- IDA-game
Elaborate a traditional wargame with an embedded advanced Harmony game. One starts a traditional wargame. Through the score rules one is induced to more success when applying harmony principles.

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Embedding intergeneration harmony
Develop general and dedicated learning tools including games with embedding intergeneration harmony, socialising and cooperative principles, advices and suggestions.