week 12

ITS 832

CHAPTER 13

Management of Complex Systems: Toward Agent-Based Gaming for Policy

Information Technology in a Global Economy

INTRODUCTION

• Simulating/Managing Social Complex Phenomena

• Leadership and Management in Complex Systems

• Serious Gaming

• Agent-Based Games for Testing Leadership and Management

• Single and Multiplayer Settings

• Summary and conclusions

SIMULATING AND MANAGING SOCIAL

COMPLEX PHENOMENA • Study of how people interact • Scale prohibits experimentation with real populations • Agent-Base modeling (ABM)

• Networked agents • Each agent is an individual

• Interaction may modify agent behavior • Managing complex phenomena introduces complexity

• Techniques to manage turbulent situations vary • Technique success depends on responding to agent behavior

• Which may change based on interactions

LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT IN

COMPLEX SYSTEMS

• Traditional leadership research

• Generally focuses on single period in time

• Doesn’t address dynamic relationships

• Timing of leadership principle application matters

• Primary leadership functions

• Instructional and regulatory

• Developmental

• Simulations offer promise to help model leadership in complex systems

SERIOUS GAMING

• Applying gaming techniques to real life situations • Flight simulators

• Effective for evaluating complex environments • Player must interact with multiple actors and situations

• Currently used for side range of training applications

• Leadership use • Deterministic – limited scope

• ABMs in serious gaming can help understand more complex interactions

AGENT-BASED GAMES FOR TESTING

LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT

• ABM games with autonomous AI population

• Test leadership style effectiveness • Explore which styles work best in different situations

• Determine the best choice for a given scenario

• Current state of the art is more conceptual

• Advances needed in interfaces • Need to allow users to interact with simulation

• Keep players engaged

BEHAVIOR IMPACTED BY MULTIPLE FACTORS

SINGLE AND MULTIPLAYER GAMES

• AI may react poorly to management input • Simulating unexpected consequences of decisions

• Overactive AI may degrade realism

• Players can dynamically see how decisions affect others

• Early simulations allow for only single players

• Multiple real players adds more realistic interaction • Players replace some AI

• Players interact with each other and AI

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

• ABM-based gaming can measure behaviors of players

• Supports experimentation in controlled environment

• Study leaderships and management in complex systems

• Focus • Interaction with leadership

• Interaction with players as a result of leadership action