gamestorming the inner and outer worlds
the book debut and a poll question
Dear ones, Gamestorming 2.0 has made its debut—hallelujah, hurrah, huzzah! It’s an expression of creativity, a sigh of good news in a time that’s universally taxing. I can say with only a little bias that it is a great book—453 inspired pages, a worthy nod to its predecessor born 15 years ago. Our publisher shipped hard copies to my home so I took a fashion photo on my desk.
Partly because I’m a Type 4 on the Enneagram (Intense Creative . . . for better and worse), like many facilitation enthusiasts I took this practice far, deep, and wide, exploring realms well beyond its original applications. At this stage, I see it as a co-creative Venn diagram with Gamestorming for the Outer World and Gamestorming for the Inner World. Great things happen in each space.
Gamestorming for the Outer World honors the classic practice: Visually facilitated problem-solving for concerns of a more external nature—business strategy, entrepreneurism, innovation, productivity, meeting-culture change. A single-game example of this (rather than a multi-game meeting or workshop design) might involve building a context map to show the external forces at work surrounding an organization.
Gamestorming for the Inner World leverages multi-sensory, embodied work for concerns of a more internal nature: self-discovery, self-compassion, relief from inner critics and limiting beliefs, softened barriers to courage, confidence, and potential. A single-game example of this might be tuning your “inner ear” to hear internal dialogue that suggests multiple perspectives around a single topic, then storyboarding what you felt and heard.
Both applications—outer and inner—are never-ending and symbiotic and, they yield unique fruits. I hold inner gamestorming not as a ‘nice-to-have’ but a ‘need-to-have’ due to the profound impact it has on the nature of what emerges in the material world. I see it as even more crucial now that various aspects of our lives are being grifted and enshittified.
Inner-work games invigorate clarity, authenticity, imagination, and bravery—qualities that help us navigate uncertain times. This brings me to the poll below. From experience, I have a hunch how the outcome will skew so my aim is to see how skewed. Your vote would offer a little more insight as I build learning journeys and invite collaboration partners.
FYI, I’m working on two more books—one realistic fiction driven by challenging events in my life and one nonfiction inspired by what I learned (and am still learning) to keep going—so my next season is focused on depth in practice and quality of connection made possible in small circles at the Center.
Gamestorming is and has always been open-source, so I look forward to seeing what magic you usher in.
Until next, may the games be with you -
Sun
P.S. For a general explanation of the outer practice of gamestorming, find a description here or watch the first video on this page.
I lurrrve the idea of Gamestorming for the inner world, and I suspect you know why that is so. Go for it!
Honestly, I feel like the answer is "it depends", in that it depends on the need and how much the content aligns to the need and its ability to facilitate the journey to an answer.