Speculative Games: Games Envisioning Possible Futures

This paper, presented as an extended abstract from the Speculative Games Project, examines how games engage with possible futures and proposes principles for designing speculative games, with particular attention to tabletop role-playing games (TRPGs). Speculative games are defined as those featuring plausible, fact-based mid- and long-term future scenarios, primarily extrapolated from current scientific, technological, social, and environmental trends, though the authors also consider visions that move beyond contemporary conditions. The paper frames game design itself as a form of speculative design that invites reflection on plausible futures.

The authors identify several modes through which games represent futures. Foresight games bring stakeholders together to explore alternative futures and expose bottlenecks in addressing local issues, while alternate reality and playful foresight games encourage players to imagine plural futures and recognize their own biases. Games can also act as technology demonstrators, simulating emerging technologies to anticipate their social, economic, and cultural impacts. The paper notes that even commercial games rooted in contemporary trends can shape players' capacity to interpret and produce future visions. Uncertainty is treated as central: speculative games are presented as fictional experiments rather than scientifically precise forecasts, and "dark-play," the exploration of problematic or controversial choices, is argued to support critical engagement with issues such as climate change. Subjective perspectives tied to character goals and social roles are highlighted as a distinctive strength of games.

The paper further proposes that speculative games can serve as setting documents for potential futures, drawing on concepts such as worldmaking interactions and second-order design fictions that leave futures open rather than prescribing one path. It argues that TRPG story-world databases parallel these approaches, and that game masters and players together offer flexible interplay between systemic and individual perspectives on the future. Case studies of Shadowrun, Cyberpunk, and Hard-Wired Island are cited as illustrations. The authors acknowledge that empirical study of actual play sessions and post-game reflections remains a necessary next step.