Dysruption

Dysruption

Dysruption Body

A Novel Approach to Resilience Training for Critical Infrastructure

Dysruption, developed by the Center for Infrastructure Defense in collaboration with Arizona State University and the NPS MOVES Institute, is an online game that introduces players to some of the tensions and tradeoffs related to critical infrastructure vulnerability and operation. By playing the role of both attacker and operator for a critical infrastructure system, players learn how to prioritize infrastructure investment in the presence of time pressure, limited budgets, and (climate-driven) surprise events.

To date, Dysruption has been introduced at the 2022 Military Operations Research Society Symposium as well as at the Naval Civil Engineer Corps Officers School, as part of their intermediate and advanced public works classes.  CID is working to further expand Dysruption into DOD and military operational settings, so that agencies and commands can examine how their infrastructure systems and system operators handle challenges that fall outside of their design envelope. 

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Gameplay

Gameplay

Dysruption supports three infrastructure games: Break It Bad (BIB), Fix It Fast (FIF), and Save Our System (SOS). Each game provides a different experience and learning objective and uses an interactive interface that is easily accessible from any web browser.

 

In BIB, players are given a working infrastructure system and are asked to cause the worst disruption by breaking nodes or arcs. Playing BIB teaches how to think through worst-case disruptions and system-level thinking for system vulnerability. 

In FIF, players are given the same system in a disrupted state and are tasked with getting the system functioning again with lowest cost and effort. Playing FIF teaches how to think through system recovery and minimum requirements to keep systems functioning.

In SOS, players are given an infrastructure system and are asked to play a multi-turn game where components can fail with increasing probability over time. SOS matches real infrastructure operations and uses metrics from the DOD, like the facility condition index, to guide player actions. Playing SOS teaches how to manage time and budget pressure with aging and failing infrastructure.

Together, the three games provide a comprehensive view of system vulnerability and resilience and situate learning around decisions that civil engineering officers have to deal with in their day-to-day operations.

Dysruption Contact

For further information regarding Dysruption contact the CID team:
Dr. David Alderson (Lead PI, dlalders@nps.edu) or
Elle Hancock (Project Manager, michelle.hancock@nps.edu)