Guest Editorial

Gaming-Simulation can be viewed as a hybrid form involving the performance of game activities in simulated context. In this simulated context players have goals, they have to perform sets of activities, deal with constraints on what can be done, and handle payoffs (good and bad) as consequences of the actions. Gaming-Simulation has recently gained considerable popularity as a tool for education and training, both in industrial and academic environments. Gaming-Simulation promotes interest and motivation, presents information and principles, puts players into situations which they must articulate positions, ideas, arguments and facts they have previously learned, or train them skills they will need later. A Gaming-Simulation is a sequential decision-making exercise, with the basic function of providing an artificial but realistic environment that enables players to experience the consequences of their decisions through immediate response. The elements in a Gaming-Simulation (roles, goals, activities, constraints and consequences) are patterned from real life, and the linkages among them simulate the elements of the real-world system. Its objective is to enhance a comprehensive understanding of complex systems and to communicate and develop knowledge and skills. In this way Gaming-Simulation can serve as a precision tool to link a more complex model to the real world