Changing the Game of Consumption
A megagame where players explore consumption, sustainability, responsibility and social systems through roles and decisions.
Board games at large scale
A megagame is like a large living board game.
I ett vanligt brädspel sitter några få personer runt ett bord. I ett megagame deltar ofta mellan 30 och 80 personer samtidigt.
Participants are divided into teams and each player is given a specific role, for example responsibility for finance, research, diplomacy, environment, logistics, politics or communication.
Ingen enskild spelare eller enskilt lag har en fullständig överblick över situationen i spelet. Varje lag måste därför samarbeta internt och samtidigt förhandla med andra lag för att förstå vad som händer.
Roles & teams
You do not play alone.
A megagame is as much about collaboration as strategy.
In each team, players have different responsibilities but the same overall goal. Someone follows the economy, someone negotiates, someone interprets events and someone plans the next step.
Players move between different parts of the game and bring information back to the team table. There, the team jointly tries to work out what each player should do during the next round for the team to reach its goal.
The point is that no one is left alone to navigate the game. There is always someone to discuss choices, risks and opportunities with.
Game facilitation
The control team plays the rest of the world.
Each megagame is led by a control team that acts as game masters, facilitators and referees at the same time. They keep track of rounds, introduce events from the wider world, answer questions and help players who want to do things not covered by the rules.
The control team plays all parts of the world not controlled by another player and manages the scenario. Their task is to ensure that players have an engaging and meaningful experience.
Learning through action
Complex systems become understandable.
Many societal issues are hard to understand simply by reading about them.
I ett megagame får deltagarna istället uppleva hur olika system fungerar genom att själva fatta beslut och hantera konsekvenserna.
Gamesarna upptäcker att olika aktörer har olika mål, att information nästan alltid är ofullständig och att små beslut kan få stora följder längre fram.
The game experience
What does it feel like to play?
De flesta beskriver sitt första megagame som intensivt, kaotiskt och överraskande verkligt.
Först känns det som om det händer för mycket samtidigt. Sedan börjar laget bygga rutiner. Information sorteras. Prioriteringar görs. Konflikter uppstår. Och långsamt börjar spelarna förstå systemet de befinner sig i.
När spelet är slut brukar deltagarna inte främst prata om vem som vann. De pratar om förhandlingarna de genomförde, besluten de tog och hur världen förändrades omkring dem.
Examples of megagames
Two Swedish megagames about society.
Switching the Current
A megagame about local communities, resources, collaboration and strategic choices in times of change.