Government for the 100%
MMOWGLI: Government for the 100% White Paper
In the paper Government for the 100%: Using Games to Democratize Innovation and Innovate Democracy, co-authors Garth Jensen, Office of Naval Research Science Advisor, and Jason Tester, Research Director at the Institute for the Future, present an overview of the MMOWGLI project to-date, from its original goal to tackle the Navy’s wicked problems, to its future as an open-source participation platform with the potential to engage many citizens in a truly ‘massively multiplayer democracy’. Government for the 100% also identifies the five design principles that emerged as critical to the success of MMOWGLI. These principles can be re-applied for related efforts in serious gaming, massive open online courses, and crowdsourced innovation.
[Government for the 100% was originally written for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Working Group on Serious Games.]
About MMOWGLI
MMOWGLI is a re-purposeable gaming platform designed to evoke fresh insight by engaging online crowds around serious topics. Since launching in spring 2011, 2700 players have contributed 20,000 ideas to combat Somali piracy, create an agile 21stcentury Navy, and re-invent the military’s relationship to energy. As the Navy’s first crowdsourced gaming initiative, MMOWGLI has been covered by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, MSNBC, Washington Post, Wired, and Scientific American.
MMOWGLI is a project of the Office of Naval Research, designed by the Institute for the Future and implemented by the Naval Postgraduate School.
MMOWGLI in the News
- The New York Times: "On Our Radar: An Energy Challenge for Gamers"
- Scientific American: "Navy Recruits Players for Online War Game to Tackle Energy Challenges"
- PBS NewsHour: Calling All Gamers: US Navy Wants You!
- TPMIdeaLab in "Navy Crowdsources Future Energy Strategy with Wargame"
- SmartPlanet: "U.S. Navy turns to online gaming to solve energy woes"
- Environmental News Network (ENN): "To Help Ensure Operational Readiness, Navy Recruits Players for Online Wargame to Tackle Energy Challenges"
- Biofuels Digest: "Navy invites civic, academic, military online participants for three-day alternative energy wargame, based on 2022 scenario"
- Navy.mil: "Navy Recruits Players for Online Wargame to Tackle Energy Challenges"
- Federal Computer Week: "Navy Looks to Crowdsourcing for Problem-solving"
- Wired: "Navy Crowdsources Pirate Fight To Online Gamers"
- Fast Company: "Wannabe SEALs Help U.S. Navy Hunt Pirates In Massively Multiplayer Game"
- Office of Naval Research: official news release
- Armed with Science: Blog post on MMOWGLI by Garth Jensen, Director of Innovation at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division
More Information
Check out Jason Tester's Future Now article for new insights from the MMOWGLI game. For additional information on the MMOWGLI project or broader work by IFTF on engaged forecasting, please contact Jason Tester at jtester@iftf.org.
For more background information on the future of governance, view Jake Dunagan's article, "The Future of Government" for GOOD.