Towards an Ontology of Wargame Design

Governments rely on military power to address conflicts, manage crises, and adapt to the evolving nature of modern warfare, which is often characterized by uncertainty and disorder. Wargames, traditionally a military tool for simulating conflicts and decision-making, have gained prominence in civilian applications, including business, cybersecurity, disaster management, and critical infrastructure protection. Despite their utility, designing wargames is a time-intensive process with significant challenges, such as scenario creation and decision modeling, necessitating structured and systematic approaches. This research aims to formalize wargame design by proposing using ontology-driven conceptual modeling to organize and represent the key concepts, characteristics, and elements of the wargame domain. Ontologies provide a structured representation of knowledge, facilitating communication, knowledge management, and collaborative design. As a result, we developed core ontologies for wargame design based on the Unified Foundational Ontology (UFO) and implemented them using OntoUML. These ontologies enhance wargame design by fostering standardization, adaptability, and support for intelligent systems, enabling dynamic and responsive scenarios. These contributions offer a systematic foundation for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of wargame design, with potential applications in both military and civilian domains.