[GavinB]

That's true in theory, but rules of war do have a long history of limited but very real success. The key is to keep a multipolar civilization so that the cost of defecting from the rules (for example, the Geneva Convention) is higher than the benefit of getting an edge in the current conflict.

Even in a bi-polar conflict, the threat of mutually assured destruction helps to enforce official and unofficial rules of engagement. The Cold War demonstrated that quite effectively.

[TeMPOraL]

AFAIK this history is less than 100 years old, per what 'nostrademons elaborated on in the thread. From what I remember from my history lessons, most wars - including both World Wars - were free for all, with (what we consider today) war crimes committed left and right. And it's only expected: any party that believes they're fighting for their very survival will not stick to the rulebook unless consequences are greater than benefits, and they usually aren't.

I mean, the proposal here is equivalent to saying "let's solve all our disputes by a deathmatch in Quake 3 Arena" - stated this way, it's more obvious that the only thing stopping a party from cheating is threat of consequences in the real world. And once you have threats and counterthreats, you may as well do away with the Q3A game.

Hell, it seems to me that in a way, we're already doing "conflict resolution through games". Geopolitics is the name of the game, and diplomats and politicians are the player. There's a full fluidity from the purely virtual threats, through sanctions up to trade wars.