Professional Gaming Society

Colleagues,

At Connections US 2026, held at the Naval Postgraduate School, Phil Pournelle presented an initial Wargaming Skill Set Mapping intended to stimulate discussion about the development of future wargame professionals. Although Phil used the term wargame designer, he employed it broadly to encompass the range of people required to create and conduct professional war games-including directors, analysts, designers, developers, adjudicators, facilitators, technical-support personnel, and administrative and logistics specialists.

Phil's presentation identifies three closely related needs: defining the skill sets required for professional wargaming, identifying competencies at different developmental levels, and mapping the education, training, and experience through which those competencies might be developed. His initial list spans sponsor engagement, design, development, facilitation, adjudication, analysis, automated support, and event planning. It also proposes developmental levels, while explicitly recognizing that the definitions require further work.

This raises an important opportunity for the Professional Gaming Society. Wargamers are currently developed through many different organizational traditions. These traditions have produced highly capable practitioners, but they often use their own terminology, developmental pathways, and standards for determining proficiency. As a result, a person recognized as highly proficient within one organization may find that their knowledge and experience are not easily understood-or transferable-when they move to another organization or wargaming tradition.

I propose that the PGS consider forming a working group to develop a community standard for assessing and documenting wargamer proficiency. The immediate purpose would not be to impose a single method of wargaming or to replace the distinctive traditions that have developed across military, government, academic, commercial, and hobby communities. Rather, the goal would be to establish a common framework through which those traditions could describe, assess, and recognize professional competence.

A working group might begin by addressing three areas:

1. Developmental levels. What distinguishes an apprentice, journey-level practitioner, senior practitioner, or master-level professional? The labels themselves are less important than defining observable differences in independence, judgment, responsibility, and demonstrated performance.
2. Competency pathways. Which competencies should be common to all professional wargamers, and which should be associated with particular roles or specialties such as analysis, design, development, adjudication, facilitation, direction, or event support?
3. Assessment and certification. What evidence should demonstrate proficiency-education, supervised practice, a portfolio of work, observation during projects, peer review, oral examination, or some combination? Should PGS eventually certify individuals, accredit organizational development programs, publish a voluntary assessment standard, or pursue another model?

The central issue is that certification should represent demonstrated professional proficiency, not simply course attendance, years of service, participation in a certain number of games, or organizational reputation. A useful standard would need to recognize both specialized expertise and the ability to understand how one's work contributes to the complete wargaming process.

I have attached Phil's briefing and a draft paper outlining my own thoughts about the progression from guild-like organizational traditions toward a more coherent field of professional study. Both are offered as starting points rather than finished solutions.

Would PGS members find such a working group useful? What organizations, traditions, and professional roles would need to be represented for its work to have credibility? Most importantly, what should a practitioner be required to demonstrate before the community recognizes that person as proficient at a particular level?

I look forward to the discussion.

Attachment(s)

From Wargaming Traditions to a Professional Field.docx   33 KB 1 version

2026 Pournelle - Wargaming Skill Set Mapping.pdf   378 KB 1 version