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History of the Global Simulation Workshop

In the late 1940's, as the world coped with the ravages of war and nationalism, American inventor, educator, and visionary Buckminster Fuller conceived a tool to help address these critical problems: the World Game™.

He envisioned a "great logistics game," like the war games he had studied at the U.S. Navy War College, but where people would strive to "make the world work, for 100% of humanity, in the shortest possible time, through spontaneous cooperation, without ecological offense or the disadvantage of anyone.” He called his vision the “World Peace Game," later shortened to the "World Game™.”

Fuller's game was intended to be a tool that could be used by people around the world to understand and develop solutions to what he called "the real enemies" of humanity: hunger, illiteracy, lack of health care, environmental degradation, and "you vs. me" thinking.

Fuller proposed to introduce and house the World Game™ in a giant geodesic dome that he designed as the U.S. Pavilion for the 1967 Montreal World's Fair. His giant dome was built, but the game exhibit was rejected as too "revolutionary."  In 1972, the World Game Institute (WGI) was established by Fuller and two colleagues, o.s.Earth founders Howard Brown and Medard Gabel.

The World Game Institute brought the World Game™ experience to hundreds of thousands of participants around the world.  WGI also developed the world's largest and most accurate map of the world and educational resources designed to teach interdependence, collaboration, respect for diversity, and individual participation in a global society.

The o.s.Earth Global Simulation Workshop is an updated version of Fuller’s original vision, now enhanced with state of the art multimedia and dynamic game play.