Activity-Driven Time in Computerized Gaming Simulations

Pedagogically and administratively critical to computerized gaming simulations, the treatment of time can differ along three dimensions: scale, synchronization, and drive. Time can be fixed or flexibly scaled, synchronized or unsynchronized among participants, and driven either by the administrator, the participants, the clock, or the level of activity. Fixed scaling is more easily programmed; flexible scaling gives participants more freedom. Synchronization coerces participants unnaturally, but assures that mindless activity is not rewarded. Administrator-driven time is administratively burdensome, participant-driven time is difficult to code when decisions among participants are interdependent, and clock-driven time is inherently inadaptable to an irregular schedule. Activity-driven time can involve counting either decisions or accesses. Counting decisions encourages the churning of decisions; counting accesses encourages revolving access and collusive access, and can give rise to in adaptive pacing. Solutions to these problems and an application are discussed. Activity-driven time can enable gaming simulations to run for many periods without imposing excessive demands on either administrators or participants, and without engendering boredom. A symbiotic relationship may develop between gaming simulations and the study of temporal issues in management.