Superstruct: massively multiplayer forecasting game

A couple weeks ago, my colleagues at Institute for the Future launched Superstruct, an alternate reality game set in the year 2019. In the game world, 2019 is a pretty intense time to be a human. Our species could be wiped out in just 23 years by a variety of superthreats, like disease, food shortages, environmental devastation, and power struggles (er, unbelievable as that may sound). Superstruct is an opportunity to imagine how we might solve global problems, if we can solve them. The game will be played for another month and you can join any time. From the Superstruct FAQ:

Q: What does "superstruct" mean?
Su`per`struct´ v. t. 1.To build over or upon another structure; to erect upon a foundation. Superstructing is what humans do. We build new structures on old structures. We build media on top of language and communication networks. We build communities on top of family structures. We build corporations on top of platforms for manufacturing, marketing, and distribution. Superstructing has allowed us to survive in the past and it will help us survive the super-threats...

Q: How do I play Superstruct?
A: Superstruct is played on forums, blogs, videos, wikis, and other familiar online spaces. We show you the world as it might look in 2019. You show us what it's like to live there. Bring what you know and who you know, and we'll all figure out how to make 2019 a world we want to live in.

Superstruct

[#1 posted by kleer001 , October 23, 2008 10:34 AM]

color me ignorant and dull, but who's the demographic?

[#2 posted by Jamais_Cascio , October 23, 2008 11:08 AM]

Web-friendly, teen to older adult with an interest in (a) futures thinking, (b) alternative reality games, and/or (c) Saving the World (tm).

So far, the mix has been about 60/40 male/female, with a pretty wide age range.

-Jamais Cascio (scenario director for Superstruct)

[#3 posted by Tom Hale , October 23, 2008 12:44 PM]

Q: Who is making Superstruct? A: Superstruct is being developed by the Ten-Year Forecast team at the Institute for the Future, a not-for-profit think tank based in Palo Alto, California.

This group reminds me of the hero's occupation in Gordon Dickson's book, Wolf and Iron.

[#4 posted by Paul , October 23, 2008 2:07 PM]

Question: Will the game be iterative?

It would be interesting to run the game for a month each year for the next few years, so both the players and the scenario designers could update/revise their ideas in accordance with how things change over time.

This would allow the Superstruct community to track the accuracy of the predictions.

[#5 posted by Jamais_Cascio , October 23, 2008 2:12 PM]

For what's worth, the goal isn't predictive accuracy, but forecast breadth. Predicting a particular event at a particular time is a nifty trick when it happens, but isn't as useful as being able to understand driving trends and problems. This kind of exercise is much better for the latter process than the former.

We'd like it to be iterative, but that hasn't been decided yet.

[#6 posted by salimfadhley , October 23, 2008 2:16 PM]

I tried to register on my Linux Firefox with Flash disabled... no joy.

:-(

[#7 posted by hohum , October 23, 2008 5:25 PM]

Wait, wait, wait... The world in 2019... Played on blogs... Launched a couple of weeks ago... Does this explain Infomercia?

[#8 posted by David Pescovitz , October 23, 2008 6:18 PM]

HOHUM @7, I also made that link in my head when the BB Gadgets crew did the Infomercia thing, but no. Totally unrelated.