Board game “Ethixx” of the German Armed Forces, 2016

The board game “Ethixx” was published by the Center for Internal Leadership in 2016 to make training and further education in the Bundeswehr on the topic of ethics more interesting. Instead of frontal lessons on Immanuel Kant’s categorical imperative, 2-4 players can solve tasks in around 90 minutes and decide on transfers and deployments until the end of their service. The aim of the game is to get promoted as quickly as possible. Promotion points can be earned or lost with humorous events such as “You drink a little too much at the barbecue and don’t cut a good figure in front of your superiors”. But there are also serious questions.

The task cards provide players with information about moral philosophy, political and legal regulations, Innere Führung and instructions for ethical and moral issues. Questions relating to everyday service or foreign deployments are designed to get players talking. For some situations, the game provides clear yes or no answers that take into account the legal, tactical and ethical dimensions.

For example, whether you are allowed to help an injured child on the side of the road while on patrol in unfamiliar territory on a foreign mission. If the players decide not to help, they receive two promotion points, as it is an ambush and stopping could endanger their own life and that of their comrades.

With the 2008 amendment, the Central Service Regulation 10/1 on Innere Führung finally addressed the special situation and the associated burdens of foreign missions. The concept of Innere Führung is not fixed, but is intended to provide orientation for military service in a democracy based on the values and norms of the free and democratic basic order. Soldiers need this orientation, especially in foreign missions, as they are repeatedly confronted with moral conflicts and have to make difficult decisions in a very short space of time.

This text was automatically translated using AI.