The answer to the question what will happen with us in the coming ten years, is something we’d all like to hear. But not many succeed in bringing the right answer. Unless loads of research and a great and motivated team is behind the project, the future trends won’t be that accurate and acceptable. Making predictions is not a game, as they would say. Yet, Jane McGonigal, reasearcher at IFTF launched Superstruct, a massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) that outlined the world of the future, thanks to the ideas and the collaboration of hundreds of users. If I had known, I would have joined!

For six weeks, people played the game. Hundreds of ideas were formed, considering different territories within the future. Wired Editor Riccardo Luna helped with visualizing these ideas.

“The goal of the project is to engage a broad public in considering the dilemmas we face in our current, everyday lives and think together about resolutions that go beyond the familiar ways of dealing with problems”

Jane Mc Gonigal, Superstruct game designer

When all ideas were overlooked, only 7 big ideas came out:

• Amplified optimism
• Scale extreme
• Adaptive emotion
• Simulation as game
• Evolvability
• Collaboration environment
• Reverse shortage

Dividing these ideas amongst 5 known categories (policy, infrastructure, environment, economy and society), they saw three areas on which they could operate:

• Networks and individuals
• Tools and knowledge
• Practices and projects

With this information, the team was able to develop this marvelous illustration. The trends are acceptable and reasonable, some of them are even insights I had with my team at Hyper Island (which I take as a compliment).
But the illustration may not be the greatest result out of this project, perhaps the methodology of using a vast community and a gaming environment for delivering these ideas is even more remarkable. None the less, this illustration is a definite must-see.

Cas Lemmens

illustrations

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