The heretofore implicit model underlying SIMSOC is made explicit through a comparison of the 1978 and 1972 versions of the simulation game. The more sophisticated 1978 game edition contains improvements over the earlier edition in the options for personal goals. (CMV)

Presents the results of a manual simulation, which consisted of a simple world model with several feedback loops, to emphasize the particular difficulty of the results of interpreting computer simulations using similar techniques. (CMV)

Describes the historical and international development of simulation and gaming in terms of simulation as analytical models, and games as communicative models; and forecasts possible futures of simulation and gaming. (CMV)

Discusses general structure and specification guidelines for interactive simulation/games, which include development of a computer simulation model, embedding the model in an interactive simulation, and embedding the simulation in a game. An outline following these guidelines is presented for the development of DENTIST, a dental health care…

Discussion of issues focuses on a bahavioral paradigm; the design of games and simulations consonant with the framework of that paradigm; and the simulation, Interact II, designed especially to operationalize that perspective. (CMV)

Discusses basic weaknesses and limitations of models, simulations, gaming, and other analytical and behavioral approaches to simplifying reality for understanding. The development and use of scenarios and the model builder's basic conceptions of the aspects of reality being analyzed are described for a one-person, computer-interactive, quasi-rigid…

Discusses the history and development of gaming and suggests possible future developments. Highlights include models, simulations, and games; the use of games in the military, in social sciences, in business, and in education; the impact of computers on gaming; and the relationship among gaming, game theory, and social psychology. (LRW)

PARADIGM is a large-scale stochastic computer simulation of the flow of competing ideas through evolving groups. It is used to examine how different message characteristics influence the speed with which one idea overtakes another in popularity. PARADIGM is discussed in the context of changing ideas in an academic department. (CMV)

Describes design principles followed in developing an interactive microcomputer-based simulation to study financial and economic aspects of the Dutch social security system. The main goals are to improve participants' insights into the formal simulation model, and to improve policy development skills. Plans for future research are also discussed.…