Operational and strategic decisions in engineering design games

Paul T. Grogan, Alparslan Emrah Bayrak

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

    4 Scopus citations

    Abstract

    Engineering design games model decision-making activities by incorporating human participants in an entertaining platform. This article distinguishes between design decisions at operational and strategic timescales as important features of engineering design games. Operational decisions consider static and short-term dynamic decisions to establish a player’s situation awareness and initial entertainment. Strategic decisions consider longer-term dynamic decisions subject to large uncertainties to retain player engagement. However, constraints on cognitive load limit the ability to simultaneously address both lower-level operational design decisions and higher-level strategic decisions such as collaboration or sustainability. Partial automation can be introduced to reduce cognitive load for operational decisions and focus additional effort on strategic decisions. To illustrate tradeoffs between operational and strategic decisions, this paper discusses example cases for two existing games: Orbital Federates and EcoRacer. Discussion highlights the role of automation and entertainment in engaging human participants in engineering design games and makes recommendations for design of future engineering design games.

    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publication44th Design Automation Conference
    ISBN (Electronic)9780791851760
    DOIs
    StatePublished - 2018
    EventASME 2018 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference, IDETC/CIE 2018 - Quebec City, Canada
    Duration: 26 Aug 201829 Aug 2018

    Publication series

    NameProceedings of the ASME Design Engineering Technical Conference
    Volume2B-2018

    Conference

    ConferenceASME 2018 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference, IDETC/CIE 2018
    Country/TerritoryCanada
    CityQuebec City
    Period26/08/1829/08/18

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