Abstract: The major shift in simulation to date has been in the orientation or role of the participant. In the past, analysts studied the world as an external reviewer using simulation to provide insight into the real-world system. Students trained on replications of systems to learn specific tasks and practice certain skills with respect to the replicated real-world system. However, the domain of simulation has now spread to the digitised battlefield. As a result, through emulation techniques defined by interconnectivity and interoperability requirements and constraints, we can now climb into the simulation via the Synthetic Environment (SE) and experience the 'realities' of the system we are studying or training with. While in the past, we used training systems to teach specific tasks, the use of simulation is just beginning to evolve to emulate an operationally valid, authoritative, real-world environment. This shift in focus, capability and the participant role has both great promise and great risk. The promise brings repeatable, safe, visually accurate, inclusive, seamless, training on demand capability. However, the risk is in direct correlation to the promise and is associated with the simulation training system's development process as engineers attempt to capture the actual real-world environment and create the artificial digital emulation. The associated risk is that current engineering practices in both Systems and Software Engineering do not provide sufficient process models, policies, standards or tools that can be leveraged in a simulation program. Furthermore, simulation as a body of science does not have a collective scientific paradigm that establishes development practices let alone the final "system" validation. Now more than ever, simulation development professionals need defined practices and standards and tools in order to produce the right environment for the right requirements at an appropriate cost.