The Institute for the Future (IFTF) announced today the launch of Superstruct, the world’s first Massively Multiplayer Forecasting Game (MMFG). Superstruct invites players to imagine life in 2019 and help find solutions to five “super-threats” looming over the population — including global food shortages, crippling pandemics, super-hackers derailing public infrastructure, mass homelessness and a global fuel war. Developed by IFTF researchers Jane McGonigal, Kathi Vian, and Jamais Casico, Superstruct aims to harness the strategic thinking and creativity of its players to find plausible solutions to potential real-life problems.

Superstruct begins with the findings of a fictional supercomputer that, after a year-long analysis, predicts the extinction of the human population in 23 years. A potentially terminal combination of five so-called “super-threats,” which represent the collision of environmental, economic, and social risks, are causing massive disruptions of global society.

The game also includes a simulation system that is titled WorldRun which employs a multi-petabyte information database and a parallel computing cloud. According to the programmers, the idea behind this game is that if humankind acts intelligently the so-called “final threat” can be avoided.  In this context, the Superstruct game stands as a research tool that aims to provide individuals and the human race as a whole a better understanding of where they are headed and the steps to take in order to make the future better.

Thursday, October 2nd, 2008 at 7:06 pm | by Kur-nia-one |