Games of cooperation- a gold mine of research sources from Roger Rees

I happened to have one of those lucky conversations over coffee in which Roger, the college councilor, revealed that he may be able to contribute some interesting sources to the project. Here's my email to him and his answer- a goldmine of references.

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I'm now in the second phase of the project as I'm sure I explained, which is about creating an online version of deviant chess. I now even have a willing programmer to work with.

From my reading and playing of various online games it seems that every game needs conflict, to threaten the players with annihilation, in order to have drama. Then it seems that complexity arises by sticking around on the boundary of static solid order and fluid chaos which the good chess player does perfectly.
So I'm a bit stuck at the moment with co-operation in games. I'm stuck at how to change the game and still maintain the chessness of chess.

I'm gradually collecting my thoughts but any reference material on any of the following would be v. useful:-

successful games of co-operation
beginners guides to game construction (approaches to making a game)
how games reflect and influence evolution of individuals and society
anything that you think may be useful.

It's an enormous subject but I'm hoping to overcome the huge gaps in my own experience and understanding by working with other people- hooray for the Internet.
Also as a net art work, the game can always communicate through allegory i.e. it doesn't have to be a fully operational game, in the conventional sense, to work. But it would be great if it did.

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here's just a few things to start off searching...

I'm not really that into games theory per se but it does connect with some of the thought that is important to me and my work. The most important of which are Cybernetics, Systems Theory, General Semantics and lots of things that are hard to categorise. Some things that are written in these areas are of very little interest to me.

I've edited the following from a site called: http://www.worldtrans.org/whole.html
There are a number like it which may have some overlap with what you're interested in, to a greater or lesser extent. There's one applying systems theory to conflicts... I'll try and find the link when I next have a go at this. Anyway here's a few possibilities...

People

Gregory Bateson - Ecology of Mind. Mind and Nature
Arthur Koestler - Holarchies of nature
Karl Popper - Open Society
Ludwig von Bertalanffy - General Systems Theory
Alfred Korzybsky - General Semantics
Peter M. Senge - The Learning Organization (this might be good introduction)

Organizations

New Civilization Network - (100+) Cooperation for a better world.
The World Game Institute - (20+) Making the world work.
Soros Foundations, Open Society Institutes - (50+)
The Networking Institute (50+)
Integrative Global Action - Union of International Associations. A monumental site.
The Change Project - change in organizations, communities, families and individuals.
International Institute for Sustainable Development
Institute for Global Communications - The Progressive Directory
Idaho Systems Institute
Institute for Business and Social Architecture
Global Business Network
World Future Society
Buckminster Fuller Institute
Center for Process Studies
Whole Systems Design Program - Antioch Center for Creative Change at Antioch University Seattle.
Institute of Noetic Sciences
Santa Fe Institute - (50+) multi-displinary studies, complexity.
OneWorld Online - (500+) global justice, conflict, aid, trade, education, health, human rights, population.
Netherlands Design Institute - economics, knowledge systems.
University of Houston - Future Studies
MIT Organizatonal Learning Network
Leading Edge Research - far out science

Projects

Geosphere Project - visualizing planet Earth.
Intentional Communities - (100+)
The Venus Project (10+) Redesigning a culture.
Arcosanti - (40+) arcology project. Paolo Soleri.
Global Energy Network
Oceania - (20+) the Atlantis Project.
The Quality Community Page (7)
Tetworld - Global game and peace through development project

Models and Tools

Mind Mapping
New Civilization Game by Bill Robertson.
Infinite Games - A vision of life as play and possibility.
Activity Alignment
Domains
Holarchies
Meta Programs
Symbol Test - Test people's attitude to work.
Cognitive Tools - for collaboration between teams.
The Fourth Wave: A Normative Forecast for the Future of "SpaceShip Earth - by Oliver W. Markley.
Fourth Wave Concept Overview by Bob Debold.
Open Network and the Emergence of Freeorder - Pattern research.

Global Systems

Monetary System for the New Millenium - by Roger Langrick.
A Warning to Humanity - from the leading scientists of the planet.
Global Resource Bank - proposal to U.N. conference.
An afternoon with Jeremy Rifkin - long transcript.
Shared Energy Grid? - a thread of messages.
The Web and the new civilization - by Tom Munnecke.

Inspiration

Whole Systems Quotes
The Need for Transcendence in the Postmodern World - by Vaclav Havel, president of the Czech Republic.
A Call for New Values Mikhail Gorbachev.
The Hundredth Monkey by Ken Keyes.
Chief Seattle
Declaration of Evolution by Timothy Leary.
Onar Am - (30+) the origins of knowledge.
Buddhist Economics by E.F.Schumacher.

Other Links

Gaia, Our Living Earth
Alexander Chislenko - futurism, knowledge, and more.
ISWorld Net - information technology, information infrastructure.
Virtual Chaos - a theory of everything.

Newsgroups

alt.society.futures
alt.society.paradigms
bit.listserv.geodesic
sci.systems

Mailing lists

Whole Systems
Whole Info
Learning Organizations
Geodesic
Synergetics
Cybsys-l
Cybcom