posted
On September 22nd, the Institute for the Future will be launching Superstruct, what is being called as the "first massively multiplayer forecasting game".
quote:Beginning on September 22nd, players will be invited to plunge into the troubled world of 2019, and to begin to work towards solutions that could buy our species a little more time on the planet. They're forced to cope with five "super-threats" that are wearing down our civilization, including devastating outbreaks of a pandemic respiratory disease, climate refugees who have fled homelands made unlivable by global warming, and legions of hackers who exult in bringing down global information networks.
We will all be telling a story through public venues - blogs, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, etc... - in an effort to deal with and combat these "super threats".
I am on the advisory committee for the "quarantine" scenario, and I have big plans.
I mention it here because I'm in to this as an excellent opportunity to do some wacky creative writing. And, if you all don't decide to participate in your own active way, you can at least enjoy seeing me writhe in agony trying to survive eleven years from now.
If any of you have any questions, let me know. Otherwise, you're welcome to read the FAQ and participate in the first task.
See ya in eleven years.
* ETA:
This game is being put together by, among others, veteran ARG designer Jane McGonigal. This is something of note from her blog:
quote:In the meantime, allow me to introduce you to our amazing team of honorary game masters for Superstruct:
* Tim Kring, creator of the NBC TV series HEROES * Warren Ellis, superhero comic book author and novelist * Tara Hunt, social network expert and author of The Whuffie Factor * Bruce Sterling, science fiction writer and essayist * Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia and Wikia * Ze Frank, funniest person on the Internet * Chris DiBona, Open Source program manager for Google * Tim O'Reilly, founder and CEO of O'Reilly Media * and more surprise guests to come!
They'll be giving awards out to their favorite superstructures at the end of the game. Can you guess which honorary game masters are giving out the following: the "Pandora's Box award", "The Greatest Amount of Soul Award", and the "Most Heroic Award"?
I myself have also launched my own initiative, the ReDSNet Distributed Computing Network, at http://www.redsnet.org/ . When the game launches, you will be able to launch a simple Flash app similar to SETI@Home's application, in the hopes that the mass computing power of a distributed network can find a cure for Respiratory Distress Syndrome in 2019.
For the record, there is also a Facebook group that has over six hundred participants.
The real fun begins October 6th.
Posts: 3486 | Registered: Sep 2002
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posted
It seems like a pretty interesting idea. I signed up for the facebook group and looked through the videos, though I'm not sure I'll keep up with it when it launches.
Posts: 2437 | Registered: Apr 2005
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