Web-Based Simulation: Revolution or
Evolution?
ERNEST H. PAGE
The MITRE Corporation
ARNOLD BUSS
Naval Postgraduate School
PAUL A. FISHWICK
University of Florida
KEVIN J. HEALY
ThreadTec, Inc.
RICHARD E. NANCE
Virginia Tech
and
RAY J. PAUL
Brunel University
The nature of the emerging field of web-based simulation is examined in terms of its
relationship to the fundamental aspects of simulation research and practice. The presentation,
assuming a form of debate, is based on a panel session held at the first International
Conference on Web-Based Modeling and Simulation, which was sponsored by the Society for
Computer Simulation during 11–14 January 1998 in San Diego, California. While no clear
“winner” is evident in this debate, the issues raised here certainly merit ongoing attention and
contemplation.
Categories and Subject Descriptors: I.6.5 [Simulation and Modeling]: Model Development—
Modeling methodologies; I.6.8 [Simulation and Modeling]: Types of Simulation—Distributed
General Terms: Design
Additional Key Words and Phrases: Digital objects, distributed modeling, Java
Authors’ addresses: E. H. Page, The MITRE Corporation, 1820 Dolley Madison Blvd., McLean,
VA 22102; A. Buss, Operations Research Department, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey,
CA 22102; P. A. Fishwick, Department of Computer and Information Science Engineering,
University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 22102; K. J. Healy, ThreadTec, Inc., P.O. Box 7,
Chesterfield, MO 63017; R. E. Nance, Systems Research Center and Department of Computer
Science, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061; R. J. Paul, Centre for Applied Simulation
Modeling, Brunel University, Uxbridge, Middlesex UB8 3PH, UK.
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© 2000 ACM 1049-3301/00/0100–0003 $5.00
ACM Transactions on Modeling and Computer Simulation, Vol. 10, No. 1, January 2000, Pages 3–17.

1. PREFACE
The emergence of the World Wide Web (WWW) has enabled—or caused—
many people from across a wide range of disciplines to reevaluate their
inherent business practices: the approaches, techniques and philosophies
they apply in their day-to-day activities. The disciplines concerned with
computer simulation are no exception to this phenomenon; the concept of
web-based simulation has been introduced and is currently the subject of
much interest to both simulation researchers and simulation practitioners.
As an area of “scholarly” endeavor, web-based simulation made its debut as
a 3-paper session at the 1996 Winter Simulation Conference (WSC) and
was, by far, the most well-attended session within the modeling methodol-
ogy track of that conference. This success was repeated at WSC 1997, and
in January 1998 the first conference dedicated to the topic of web-based
simulation was held as part of the annual Society of Computer Simulation
(SCS) Western Multiconference [Fishwick et al. 1998].
This paper stems from a panel convened for WEBSIM ’98. The charter for
the panel was to examine the fundamental nature of web-based simulation
and explore its relationship to the body of theory and practice in simulation
modeling methodology that has evolved over the past forty years [Page et
al. 1998]. One goal for the panel was to distill the essential and differenti-
ating aspects of web-based simulation, if any, from amongst the mountains
of hype that tend to surround the WWW. The central question was this:
does web-based simulation represent a revolutionary change or an evolu-
tionary change? We posed the question because the nature of this change
would seem to dictate the proper direction and focus for web-based simula-
tion research and practice.
The panel composition was structured in an effort not only to portray all
sides of the issues being addressed but also, hopefully, to engender contro-
versy and stimulate participation of the audience. Arnold Buss, Paul
Fishwick, and Kevin Healy are active in web-based simulation research
and development. Dick Nance and Ray Paul represent the “traditional”
simulation modeling methodology community. Kevin Healy presents a view
from the commercial world, the rest of the panel hails from academe.
Arnold Bass, Dick Nance, Paul Fishwick, and Kevin Healy provide a U.S.
perspective. Ray Paul serves as international representative.
The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 establishes
the framework for our debate. The panelists’ responses are captured in
Section 3. Although difficult to portray in linear text, we attempt to capture
the essence of the dialogue that occurred during the session through focus
on a few key points of dispute in Section 4. A brief concluding summary is
given in Section 5.
2. WHAT ARE THE MODELING METHODOLOGICAL IMPACTS OF WEB-
BASED SIMULATION?
Simulation modeling methodology deals with the creation and manipula-
tion of models over the lifetime of their use. Motivated by the recognition
4 • E. H. Page et al.
ACM Transactions on Modeling and Computer Simulation, Vol. 10, No. 1, January 2000.