Using conflict theory to model complex societal interactions

Conflict theory can be used to explain the interactions between societies during times of turmoil and change (i.e. revolutions, strikes or everyday debates). Games have been produced that make use of different aspects of conflict theory; however a common framework for organizing a system to produce realistic conflicts has not been created. This paper presents one such framework, based upon principles of conflict theory, which describe a generalized way of organizing a system to produce realistic conflict situations among societies. With our framework, we present how current commercial games represent conflict and how our framework can be implemented by these games in order to increase the system's flexibility and accuracy in representing conflict. Categories and Subject Descriptors K.8.0 [Personal Computing]: General--Games General Terms Design, Theory Keywords Conflict Theory, Social Modeling, Digital Games

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2008
• Where: FPLAY
• Authors: Ben Medler, Joe Fitzgerald, Brian Magerko
• Keywords: Computer Graphics, Conflict Theory, FPLAY 2008, Realistic Conflict, Realistic Conflict Situations