Who's willing to break the Internet with MMOWGLI?
OtherApril 01, 2016
In an effort to recruit new blood, the Department of the Navy (DON) has created an online wargame. MMOWGLI, also dubbed the Gen-Y game, looks to engage the Generation Y/Millennial clique to find new solutions to emerging problems within our cyber-centric world.
MMOWGLI stands for Massive Multiplayer Online Wargame Leveraging the Internet. The purpose of this game is to bring in people to innovate and facilitate collaborative thinking. Players that join can find solutions to problems and quickly come up with ideas all through the Internet. Officials are calling this process “Idea Card chains and Action Plan alternatives.”
The step the DON is taking is not surprising. Young blood within the engineering community is sparse and I ask: who else is finding this problem? Government officials are looking to find ways that will attract the gaming community of my generation to lead the cyberfight, not just in the present, but in the future as well.
Dr. William Burnett explains the game quite nicely in his article “The Lost GenYration.” He says, “at its core, MMOWGLI is an internet card game. Players earn points by generating ideas and adapting, challenging, countering, and exploring others’ in an anonymous way. Ideas are captured in a tweet length of 140 characters, helping the gamers to get their ideas out there in a punchy, readable, and shareable way. Players earn additional points if other players build on his or her ideas. In other words, if you come up with a catchy, contagious or particularly fascinating idea, the crowd will flock to it and you will rack up points.”
In a social media frenzy world, the only way to get the attention and keep the attention of Millenials is to keep it at 140 characters of less. Thank you, Twitter.
It’s not the first time the DON has used this game to solve issues. According to Dr. Burnett, “MOWGLI games have explored issues as diverse as the Naval energy policy, combating piracy, electro-magnetic warfare, and even copyright infringement.”
Honestly, it’s a great idea. We need a new perspective. We will always need a new perspective to innovate and bring good change to the world. Cyberattacks are real and the best way is to go on the defensive.
The game starts this April. To sign up for the game, visit https://mmowgli.nps.edu/geny/signup. For more information, visit https://portal.mmowgli.nps.edu/wp/index.php/mmowgli/gen-y-page/. For questions, please contact Mr. Philip Lee at DON_Innovation@navy.mil.
