Endgame

Speaking of alternate reality games, Jane McGonigal has announced the launch of the multivariable apocalyptic scenario Superstruct, which makes her previous ARG about a World Without Oil look relatively happy and sunny by comparison. And yet, despite being structured around five superthreats (disease, famine, struggles for energy dominance, privacy and civil rights crises, and population displacements), McGonigal maintains a spirit of playfulness about the simulation. For example, she uses a number of social media platforms to facilitate social play: the game has its own Facebook group, and a number of YouTube videos are already posted to the site.

What does the world of 2019 look like? Find out now.

The full report from the Global Extinction Awareness System is LIVE -- and you can read it here for the first time anywhere. Find out exactly why the human species may face extinction by the year 2042 – and what we can do about it.

With this report, the Superstruct Story is just beginning. Two weeks from today, on October 6, 2008, we’ll flip the game switch on. Then it’s YOUR turn to tell the story of 2019 – and to help invent the future.

So read the scenario now... and get ready to start superstructing!

What McGonigal describes as the "world’s first massively multiplayer forecasting game" is named after what she characterizes as a fundamental feature of human nature: superstructing.

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.