I just connected to a very intriguing Web 2.0 forecasting game. Launched on September 22nd and only alive for three more weeks until November 13th, Superstructgame, is the brainchild of The Institute for the Future (IFTF), an independent nonprofit research group founded in 1968 by Rand Corporation researchers with a Ford Foundation grant to build understanding of the future.

The forecasting game, Superstruct invites players (you can play) to imagine, forecast and plan for a brave new world of 2019 by focusing on a unique set of “future parameters” that are presented in rather sobering videos. The five video superstructure scenarios trigger your interest and encourage you to select one of them as your primary play area. Then you add your own stories, strategize with other players and create a possible future structure. The areas are defined as:

• Quarantine, where you learn “homemade bombs kill 75 people in Birmingham as fear, anger and unemployment drive unrest…”
• Ravenous, where “abandoned supermarkets have become temporary village squares in many parts of Amsterdam…”
• Power Struggle, where you are told “Masdar City’s 500,000 inhabitants match energy consumption of a U.S. suburb of 20,000..”
• Outlaw Planet, where “grieving and hacking attacks disrupt Superstruct after the issuance of its Extinction Report..”
• Generation Exile,  which presents a scenario of “displaced people in Minnesota now numbering over 100,000 and facing a tough winter…”

So, I wondered if anyone in the Jewish community world was playing and/or if Superstructgame might spark interest in creating a version for our future. Could be very interesting to get some engaged Jewish people gaming about continuity, Jewish education, social responsibility, the future of Israel…and???? Anyone game to play?