Dealing With the Complexity Paradox in Business Simulation Games

Authors

  • Hugh M. Cannon

Abstract

For all their advantages, business simulation games tend to be overly simple, addressing a relatively small number of decision variables in comparison with those faced by managers in real life.. As more variables are added, the game may become too complex and students may lose the connection between the decisions they make and their performance. This breaks the learning cycle, thus defeating the purpose of the simulation. We refer to this phenomenon as the complexity paradox. This paper discusses the paradox, the ways it is addressed in real life, and how these may be adapted to a gaming environment.

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Published

1995-03-06