Fuller’s game is to physical resources and energy
The greatest attention in Fuller’s game is to physical resources and energy. Fuller was an engineer and technologist and a self-described design-science revolutionary. An optimist and big thinker, his position was that “spaceship earth” had adequate resources for life support for everyone on the planet, if only we would think big and give up the nation-state as an outmoded form of governance. His book Critical Path includes a description of the World Game; there he briefly recognizes human fear of the unfamiliar (Fuller) as a problem for his projected future. Like many utopians, Fuller hungered for a totalizing conception of the good, which if enacted could well be oppressive. We are now critical of twentieth-century total izing schemes, even if framed in the most benign and well-meaning way.
World Game, as developed by Fuller, is a game in support of decisions to enham e human life on this planet in a technical sense. Technical decisions can be accept ed or overturned based on rationality, logic, or scientific evidence. What Fullet avoided was the human component of game play that is essential and complex.
In contrast but also at a large scale, the Model United Nations is an interactive role-playing game in operation worldwide at universities, high schools, and online. In this game, students represent a particular country after absorbing the country brief. They learn the procedure within the security council, develop skill in resolution writing, caucusing, and consensus building. Based on human interaction and persuasion, issues are argued, coalitions are formed, and decisions are made within the simulated structure of the United Nations. The game is very fluid and dependent on the knowledge and communication skills of the players.
World Game and the Model United Nations are at opposite ends of the gaming spectrum. The former is based on physical-technical information and on a top- down approach to decision making, while the latter focuses on human communication and interaction and is based on a bottom-up approach to decision making through negotiation and consensus building.
Tags: Communication