![mushroom678x382 mushrooms lithograph](https://ludogogy.professorgame.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/mushroom678x382-678x381.jpg)
On Thursday 8th June 2022, a small group of intrepid players gathered to explore the finer points of mushroom communication.
MyCelium started with a simple idea – prompted by a report on some research which shows that fungi can communicate using up to 50 ‘words’. I knew I wanted to work it up into a game – but didn’t have any expectations that it would be a learning game or have any applications beyond just being a bit of fun.
What has been really fascinating has been the way that emergent complexity has come out of the process of design. While trying to solve a design problem – how to organise it so the game ‘knows’ things that the the players do not – the various solutions explored revealed that the seemingly simple idea had a complex ‘Culture’ inherent in it.
* Unequal access to information means an unequal potential to gain power
* Being in the right place at the right time (luck) can influence your success
* Those who have the power (food) can dictate the culture
* Relationship building can pay dividends in access to information
That’s just a small fraction of the mechanic/strategy ‘pairings’ that have emerged as I’ve worked.
I do not feel that I have designed the mechanics of the game so much as discovered them, while exploring the way that these fungi might work.
The MyCelium game – once the feedback from this session has been incorporated and some rough edges have been thoroughly smoother, will be suitable for coaches and facilitators to use for learning outcomes around:
- Organisational Culture
- Communication
- Mitigating problems and enhancing opportunities
- Teamworking
- Etc.
- James Bore – The Ransomeware Game - 13th February 2024
- Ipsodeckso – Risky Business - 23rd January 2024
- Review – Luma World Games - 15th December 2023
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