World Game, sometimes called the World Peace Game, is an educational simulation developed by Buckminster Fuller in 1961 to help create solutions to overpopulation and the uneven distribution of global resources. This alternative to war games uses Fuller's Dymaxion map and requires a group of players to cooperatively solve a set of metaphorical scenarios, thus challenging the dominant nation-state perspective with a more wholistic "total world" view. The idea was to "make the world work for 100% of humanity in the shortest possible time through spontaneous cooperation without ecological damage or disadvantage to anyone", thus increasing the quality of life for all people.
He first publicly proposed the concept as the core curriculum at the (then new) Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Fuller proposed it again in 1964 for the 1967 International and Universal Exposition in Montreal, Quebec.
In a preamble to World Game documents released in 1970, Fuller identified it very closely with his 'Guinea Pig 'B' experiment' and his 'Comprehensive Anticipatory Design Science' lifework. He claimed intellectual property rights as well to control what he considered to be misapplication of his idea by others. He also claimed he had been playing it 'longhand' without the assistance of computers since 1927.
In 1972, the World Game Institute was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by Fuller, Medard Gabel, Howard J. Brown and others.
In 2001, a for-profit educational company named o.s. Earth, Inc. purchased the principal assets of the World Game Institute and has been offering a Global Simulation Workshop that is a 'direct descendant of Buckminster Fuller's famous World Game.' In 2010, Filmmaker Chris Farina released a documentary on the World Game entitled "World Peace...and other 4th-grade achievements". The film follows the life of 4th-grade teacher John Hunter and his utilization of the game in his classroom. Despite the challenge and the complexity of the game, the 9 and 10-year old students are able to win it and "Achieve World Peace". The documentary was shown at the 2011 South by Southwest Music and Film Festival and has won audience awards at various international film festivals. John Hunter was invited to speak on the World Game at the 2011 TED Talks.
The film was aired on PBS in May 2012.
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