Warning: declare(encoding=...) ignored because Zend multibyte feature is turned off by settings in /home/webadmin/sites/iftf.org/public_html/typo3_src-4.6.18/typo3/sysext/fluid/Classes/Core/Widget/AbstractWidgetViewHelper.php on line 2 IFTF: Government for the 100%

Institute For The Future

  • What We Do
    • Who We Are
    • IFTF Vantage Partnership
    • IFTF Foresight Essentials
    • Forecasts
    • Workshops
    • Maps
    • Artifacts from the Future
    • Events
    • In the News
    • Media Center
    • Gallery
    • History of the Future
  • Our Work
    • Featured Projects
    • Global Landscape
    • People + Technology
    • Health + Self
  • Partner with IFTF
    • IFTF Vantage
    • IFTF Foresight Essentials
    • Research Labs
    • Partners
    • Jobs
    • Donate
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
  • Future Now
  • Donate
Medium Facebook Twitter RSS
  • Global Landscape
  • People + Technology
  • Health + Self

Government for the 100%

  • Featured Projects
  • Global Landscape

    • Ten-Year Forecast

    • Food Futures

    • Work + Learn Futures

    • Workable Futures

    • Cities Futures

    • Governance Futures

    • Inclusive Futures

    • Socialstructing

    • Sustainability

  • People + Technology

    • Smithsonian Futures Beacons

    • Tech Futures

    • Work + Learn Futures

    • Workable Futures

    • Games

  • Health + Self

    • After the Pandemic

    • Centering Health

    • Health Futures

    • Health Care

    • Health Games

    • Aging

INTERESTED IN LEARNING MORE ABOUT IFTF?

Contact us today »

Future NOW Blog

Identify Your Assets and Gaps: A Foresight Tool for Action

Oct 14, 2022

IFTF News from the Future #80

Oct 06, 2022

IFTF Equitable Enterprise Newsletter | September

Sep 28, 2022

Sparking a Sense of Hope & Agency

Sep 19, 2022

IFTF News from the Future #79

Sep 08, 2022

Browse all blog posts »

MMOWGLI: Government for the 100% White Paper


In the paper Government for the 100%: Using Games to Democratize Innovation and Innovate Democracy, co-authors Garth Jensen, Office of Naval Research Science Advisor, and Jason Tester at the Institute for the Future, present an overview of the MMOWGLI project through 2012, from its original goal to tackle the Navy’s wicked problems, to its future as an open-source participation platform with the potential to engage many citizens in a truly ‘massively multiplayer democracy’. Government for the 100% also identifies the five design principles that emerged as critical to the success of MMOWGLI. These principles can be re-applied for related efforts in serious gaming, massive open online courses, and crowdsourced innovation.

[NOTE: Government for the 100% was originally written for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Working Group on Serious Games.]

About MMOWGLI

MMOWGLI is a re-purposeable gaming platform designed to evoke fresh insight by engaging online crowds around serious topics. Since launching in spring 2011, 2700 players have contributed 20,000 ideas to combat Somali piracy, create an agile 21stcentury Navy, and re-invent the military’s relationship to energy. As the Navy’s first crowdsourced gaming initiative, MMOWGLI has been covered by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, MSNBC, Washington Post, Wired, and Scientific American.

MMOWGLI is a project of the Office of Naval Research, designed by the Institute for the Future and implemented by the Naval Postgraduate School.


MMOWGLI in the News

  • The New York Times: "On Our Radar: An Energy Challenge for Gamers"
  • Scientific American: "Navy Recruits Players for Online War Game to Tackle Energy Challenges"
  • PBS NewsHour: Calling All Gamers: US Navy Wants You!
  • TPMIdeaLab in "Navy Crowdsources Future Energy Strategy with Wargame"
  • SmartPlanet: "U.S. Navy turns to online gaming to solve energy woes"
  • Environmental News Network (ENN): "To Help Ensure Operational Readiness, Navy Recruits Players for Online Wargame to Tackle Energy Challenges"
  • Biofuels Digest: "Navy invites civic, academic, military online participants for three-day alternative energy wargame, based on 2022 scenario"
  • Navy.mil: "Navy Recruits Players for Online Wargame to Tackle Energy Challenges"
  • Federal Computer Week: "Navy Looks to Crowdsourcing for Problem-solving"
  • Wired: "Navy Crowdsources Pirate Fight To Online Gamers"
  • Fast Company: "Wannabe SEALs Help U.S. Navy Hunt Pirates In Massively Multiplayer Game"
  • Office of Naval Research: official news release
  • Armed with Science: Blog post on MMOWGLI by Garth Jensen, Director of Innovation at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division

More Information

For additional information on the MMOWGLI project or broader work by IFTF on engaged forecasting, please contact:

Sean Ness | [email protected] | 650-233-9517

For more on the game, check out this Future Now article for more insights from MMOWGLI.

For more background information on the future of governance, view Jake Dunagan's article, "The Future of Government" for GOOD.

Download

  • MMOWGLI_Government_SR-1539.pdf

    MMOWGLI Report: Government for the 100% (PDF)

  • Institute for the Future

  • 201 Hamilton Avenue
  • Palo Alto, CA 94301
  • 650.854.6322
  • [email protected]

  • © 2025 Institute for the Future

    What We Do

  • Who We Are
  • IFTF Vantage Partnership
  • IFTF Foresight Essentials
  • Forecasts
  • Workshops
  • Maps
  • Artifacts from the Future
  • Events
  • In the News
  • Media Center
  • Gallery
  • History of the Future

    Our Work

  • Featured Projects
  • Global Landscape
  • People + Technology
  • Health + Self

    Partner with IFTF

  • IFTF Vantage
  • IFTF Foresight Essentials
  • Research Labs
  • Partners
  • Jobs
  • Donate
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy

    Future Now

    Donate