 Attendees at MilSim event "Total War", in Orting, Washington, U.S. | |
| First played | 1980s in Japan |
|---|---|
| Characteristics | |
| Contact | Dependent on ruleset |
| Mixed-sex | Any |
| Equipment | Varies |
MilSim, an abbreviation of military simulation, refers to live-acted simulation of armed conflict scenarios conducted by civilians for entertainment, sporting, or nostalgic purposes. [1] [2] It has been described as both a form of "extreme sport" [3] and as historical reenactment.
MilSim includes activities that strive to provide an experience of combat, simulate battlefield missions, or replicate military service-style training. The training is simulated because participants engage in mock scenarios and do not actually engage in real conflicts or use real weaponry. There are several forms of MilSim: physical shooting sports (e.g. airsoft, paintball, or laser tag) with an emphasis on realism based on military scenarios and team tactics; historical reenactment of famous battles; stylistic imitations of a specific military era or focus, such as cosplaying; and military-themed e-sports (e.g. video games). Airsoft guns are used commonly in MilSim due to their cosmetic realism, satisfactory external ballistics, compatibility with genuine firearm accessories, and inexpensive ammunition. Alternatively, mock weapons which fire blanks and blank guns may be used to add immersion in events such as MilSim West. [4] Gel ball blasters are also used by MilSim players who live in countries where airsoft guns are either restricted or banned by law.
Events can span between historical or imaginary battles, law enforcement-style CQC engagements, or freestyle urban/jungle warfare-themed light infantry skirmishes. [5] Large events usually have rigid requirements for entry, and can last several days without leaving the playfield. The experience often includes camping, food preparation, transportation, and other military logistics. MilSim differs from the sports of airsoft or paintball - though all rely on tactics and marksmanship, MilSim has a focus on authenticity to real-world military doctrines. [5] There are often fireteams with designated roles, such as simulated combat medics and support gunners. [3]
Loosely originating in Japan in the 1980s, MilSim events are now bolstered by an active Internet scene. An American presenter, MSATO, claims that MilSim is the "fastest-growing extreme sport worldwide." [3] The largest events can attract thousands of attendees, though players must often source their own equipment, such as specific uniforms, radios, and weapons. Attendees are diverse, consisting of hobbyists, military veterans, or enthusiasts as young as 13. In the United Kingdom, airsoft organizers run in conjunction with Live Action Role-Players (LARP) at British Army training facilities, such as Copehill Down and Catterick Garrison. Elsewhere, combat stages are often salvaged from abandoned buildings and private woodland. Many of the larger playfields are leased to ROTC groups or civilian first responders for their own simulation training. [1]
Similar to historical reenactments, MilSim reenactments have a focus on historical accuracy to a specific event. All weaponry, uniforms, and equipment are suggested or required to be period-accurate. Food, terminology, and living arrangements can be inspired by the period; such as World War II, Desert Storm, or the Yugoslav Wars. Sides are usually not glorified, and attendees are encouraged to see battles through the eyes of an ordinary soldier.
Unlike historical reenactments, which are largely scripted, MilSim events involve creating strategies - on a platoon scale and squad scale - to defeat opponents. War historians are occasionally consulted to help stage the field. [1] Regularly, military veterans from several nations will attend or organize events, giving further accuracy to first-aid training, current terminology, clothing, and tactics. [5] When attendees must source their own equipment, costs can sometimes be thousands of dollars. [3] Occasionally, loaner equipment is provided to beginners.
MilSim simulations are fictionalized scenarios with a realistic objective; these can include hostage rescue, bomb defusal, or fictionalized skirmishes, and include law enforcement or militia-themed scenarios. These promote a "tactical playstyle" above casual airsoft. [5] Players are often given an extensive briefing, containing storylines, mission tactics, and rules of engagement. Most simulations strive for immersion and tension in players. [3] MilSim simulations are usually smaller, and more frequent, than reenactments.
Robert Silverman of Vocativ , embedded in a two-day MilSim (inspired by 2003's Tears of the Sun ), writes that "the appeal is in ... the realism of an unreal world, plus a deep desire for the camaraderie and teamwork you'd find in a real military unit." He speculates that the "pure adrenaline free from inflicting actual harm ... strikes at something embedded deep within the core of sports." [3]
Places Journal, referring to the presence of veteran and civilian players describe MilSim as a "ladder leading up to the war and a ladder for coming back down". Notably, veterans (rather than, or in addition to, mental health care) "use war games as self-administered PTSD treatment". [1] [2]
The movement of troops among the cacophony of heavy machines provides an immersive sensory environment for exposure therapy. With social support, it may be possible for vets to defeat their darkest fears (although Veterans Affairs advises against high-adrenaline treatments that might trigger flashbacks).
Recently, advances in airsoft replica authenticity have led numerous law enforcement and military units to train with airsoft guns in CQB/CQC environments. MilSim events have encouraged the US Army to promote enlistment. [1]
Mil-sim is also the descriptor for a genre of video games, often overlapping with the tactical shooter genre, containing more "realistic" mechanics and consequences than typical first-person shooters or action games. Games such as Arma and Squad rather than pure entertainment, are a simulation of equipment and tactics, and are sometimes used for military training and mission rehearsal. [6] Other games, such as Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45 and Insurgency: Sandstorm , feature realistic aspects in their gameplay. Mil-sims can be differentiated from other shooter games in that, commonly:
Shooting sports is a group of competitive and recreational sporting activities involving proficiency tests of accuracy, precision and speed in shooting — the art of using ranged weapons, mainly small arms and bows/crossbows.
A wargame is a strategy game in which two or more players command opposing armed forces in a simulation of some military operation. Wargaming may be played for recreation, to train military officers in the art of strategic thinking, or to study the nature of potential conflicts. Many wargames re-create specific historic battles, and can cover either whole wars, or any campaigns, battles, or lower-level engagements within them. Many simulate land combat, but there are wargames for naval and air combat, as well.
A simulation is an imitative representation of a process or system that could exist in the real world. In this broad sense, simulation can often be used interchangeably with model. Sometimes a clear distinction between the two terms is made, in which simulations require the use of models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or process, whereas the simulation represents the evolution of the model over time. Another way to distinguish between the terms is to define simulation as experimentation with the help of a model. This definition includes time-independent simulations. Often, computers are used to execute the simulation.
Tactical shooter is a sub-genre of first- and third-person shooters, associated with using strategy, planning, and tactics in gameplay, as well as the realistic simulations of ballistics, accurate firearm mechanics, physics and stamina, and low time to kill. Dating back to the late 1980s, the genre first rose to prominence in the late 1990s with the releases of several well-received tactical shooters. The popularity of the genre saw a decline in the late 2000s as more the arcade-like fast-paced action of other types of shooters rose to prominence, but it has seen a revitalization since the mid-2010s with the successful releases of several modern tactical shooters.
Historical reenactments is an educational or entertainment activity in which mainly amateur hobbyists and history enthusiasts dress in historic uniforms or costumes and follow a plan to recreate aspects of a historical event or period. This may be as narrow as a specific moment from a battle, such as the reenactment of Pickett's Charge presented during the 1913 Gettysburg reunion, or as broad as an entire period, such as Regency reenactment.
Paintball is a competitive team shooting sport in which players eliminate opponents from play by hitting them with spherical dye-filled gelatin capsules called paintballs that break upon impact. Paintballs are usually shot using low-energy air weapons called paintball markers that are powered by compressed air or carbon dioxide and were originally designed for remotely marking trees and cattle.
Airsoft, also known as survival game in Japan where it was popular, is a team-based shooting game in which participants eliminate opposing players out of play by shooting them with spherical plastic projectiles shot from airsoft guns.
Simulation video games are a diverse super-category of video games, generally designed to closely simulate real world activities. A simulation game attempts to copy various activities from real life in the form of a game for various purposes such as training, analysis, prediction, or entertainment. Usually there are no strictly defined goals in the game, and the player is allowed to control a character or environment freely. Well-known examples are war games, business games, and role play simulation. From three basic types of strategic, planning, and learning exercises: games, simulations, and case studies, a number of hybrids may be considered, including simulation games that are used as case studies. Comparisons of the merits of simulation games versus other teaching techniques have been carried out by many researchers and a number of comprehensive reviews have been published.
Scenario paintball is a colloquialism used to represent a diverse array of paintball events that encompass many themes that may include historical re-enactments, movies, current pop culture, futuristic or video game simulations, and more. Others have no theme at all. They frequently feature game mechanics such as "medics" and "snipers" and "helicopters" carried out through various simulations. The common denominator for this type of play is anywhere from 75 to 5000 players, with at least 6 hours of continuous play. These events average 12 hours of game play across a weekend in 2 major play periods. The longest and most challenging events run 24 hours straight with no breaks, with elite players covering ultra marathon distances. Instead of playing on a single field at a venue, all fields are combined into one continuous playable area. To further enhance the theme of a game, field locations may be named for important story locations, and props of various sorts are added to the game. These may be objects that players collect for points, or even vehicles that take part in the fighting, like paintball tanks. Players may don costumes specific to the theme, such as historic military uniforms or other costumes.
A military exercise, training exercise, maneuver (manoeuvre), or war game is the employment of military resources in training for military operations. Military exercises are conducted to explore the effects of warfare or test tactics and strategies without actual combat. They also ensure the combat readiness of garrisoned or deployable forces prior to deployment from a home base.
F-19 Stealth Fighter is a combat flight simulator developed and released in 1988 and 1990 by MicroProse, featuring a fictional United States military aircraft. It is the 16-bit remake of the 8-bit game Project Stealth Fighter, which was released for the Commodore 64 in 1987. It was also ported to the NEC PC-9801 in Japan only, and the DOS version was re-released on Steam distribution platform in 2015.
Harpoon is a series of realistic air and naval computer wargames based upon Larry Bond's miniatures game of the same name. Players can choose between either the Blue or Red side in simulated naval combat situations, which includes local conflicts as well as simulated Cold War confrontations between the Superpowers. Missions range from small missile boat engagements to large oceanic battles, with dozens of vessels and hundreds of aircraft. The game includes large databases containing many types of real world ships, submarines, aircraft, and land defenses.
Airsoft guns are replica guns used in airsoft sports. They are a special type of low-power smoothbore air guns designed to shoot non-metallic spherical projectiles (bb) often colloquially referred to as "BBs", which are typically made of plastic or biodegradable resin materials. Airsoft gun powerplants are designed to have low muzzle energy ratings and the pellets have significantly less penetrative and stopping powers than conventional airguns, and are generally safe for competitive sporting and recreational purposes if proper protective gear is worn.
Real-time tactics (RTT) is a subgenre of tactical wargames played in real-time, simulating the considerations and circumstances of operational warfare and military tactics. It is differentiated from real-time strategy gameplay by the lack of classic resource micromanagement and base or unit building, as well as the greater importance of individual units and a focus on complex battlefield tactics.
Woodsball is a format of paintball gaming, in which players compete in a natural outdoors area or a recreation of a town called urban fields using paintball guns to mark opponents. The term woodsball is sometimes used to describe non-milsim airsoft games, which take place in a forest.
Fleet Command, previously labelled as Jane's Fleet Command, is a real-time tactics naval warfare simulation computer game released in May 1999. It was developed by Sonalysts Inc. and published by Electronic Arts (EA). The game licensed parts of Jane's Information Group's military information database, which was used as an in-game "Jane's Library", reference material that the player could refer to while in-game. Jane's also licensed to EA the "Jane's" name and the "Jane's Combat Simulations" logo, and the game was marketed under the "Jane's" name, much like the previous "Jane's Fighters Anthology", also published by Electronic Arts.
A grand strategy wargame or simply grand strategy game (GSG) is a wargame that places focus on grand strategy: military strategy at the level of movement and use of a nation state or empire's resources. The genre has considerable overlap with 4X games, but differs in being "asymmetrical", meaning that players are more bound to a specific setup and not among equally free factions in exploring and progressing the game and an open world.
A computer wargame is a wargame played on a digital device. Descended from board wargaming, it simulates military conflict at the tactical, operational or strategic level. Computer wargames are both sold commercially for recreational use and, in some cases, used for military purposes.
A Virtual Military Organization (VMO) is a dedicated hobby organization that uses simulation to model the operations of a military. Virtual Military Organizations (VMOs) generally have a presence on the internet, similar to real military organizations. Most VMOs simulate military operations to varying degrees. A newer variant of Virtual Military is the MilSim unit. MilSim units differ from Virtual Military by placing emphasis on the simulation of military tactics in their chosen gaming platform, whereas traditionally, VMOs have placed emphasis on simulating the bigger picture, including a full military career path, logistics systems, coordinated movement of equipment around the world, and prolonged military operations. Although VMOs may appear to be a type of gaming clan, a key difference is that a gaming clan's primary purpose is to be an "organized group of players that regularly play together." VMOs are essentially role-playing environments within which an individual can immerse themselves. Realism groups are semantically similar; however, their primary focus is usually on following real-life procedures as much as possible. Therefore, tactical realism and MilSim are almost synonymous in the gaming world. A Google search for 'Virtual Military' reveals quite a few VMOs that go to varying degrees of depth to pursue their goal.
A live-action game (LAG) is a game where the participants act out their characters' actions.
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