Check out the new video game called A Force More Powerful. Described as a cross between Sim City and a political science tutorial, this video game is a "strategic simulation tool" that enables social movements to learn nonviolent strategic planning for implementation in oppressed societies.
Just on the face of it, this sounds very cool to me, something definitely in the "serious play" category. This is also a good example of a certain class of innovation that over gets overlooked in the preoccupation of finding something totally new-new: that is, a novel recombination of old and new tools and ideas, or things previously separated by a discipline or boundary of some sort. Nature does this all the time, and so do most creative people.
"A Force More Powerful" clearly blurs some boundaries: it gives new leverage and scope to powerful worldchanging strategies like Gandhi's ideas of satyagraha through a video game format which convergences entertainment with proven tools like stimulations and role playing. So not only do we get more effective worldchanging but also for twice the fun! A great way to open up new channels and audiences for activism. Bravo. Of course, I have no idea if or precisely how it works in practice -- please let us know if you've played with this game -- but I'm glad the game exists because it represents just another reason why it's getting harder for tyrants to maintain their traditional stranglehold on power, and another case where we see increasing access to tools and processes and know-how previously confined to a precious few corporate and government planners and elite groups. And this is no concidence.
Interestingly enough, the game is sponsored by the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC), an intriguing group that lays claim to helping topple tyrants in Serbia, Georgia and most recently Ukraine. ICNC is an independent organization that is careful to distance itself from the US government. According to Prospect magazine, "the latest wave of pro-democracy activists signing up for ICNC's help are from the next land on the administration's hitlist -- Iran." Funny that. Again, there are no coincidences here.
