Submissions | The Bureau of Multiversal Arbitration
The Bureau of Multiversal Arbitration
The Bureau of Multiversal Arbitration

by Aconite

The Bureau of Multiversal Arbitration

by Aconite

Country:

United States of America

Genre:

Emergent narrative

Platform:

Web

Links:
The Bureau of Multiversal Arbitration is a first-of-its-kind narrative Discord game, using generative AI as a core mechanic to unlock creativity, collaboration, and emergent storytelling. Players assume the role of an “Arbiter” for the BMA, an interdimensional agency that assists multiverses in crisis. Clients come to the Bureau for help when they’ve run out of options in their own universe. Their request is assigned to a Caseworker, one of several nonplayer characters that the players will assist. The presence of the nonplayer Caseworker characters introduces an element of interactive theatre to the experience, and can be puppeted any member of the team in chat. By using the game’s image generator – fictionalized as a “multiversal search engine” – players are tasked with “finding” solutions from across the multiverse that will solve the clients’ unique problems. Structured as a series of weekly events, the game plays out in real-time phases: first, a “casefile” appears which describes the client’s predicament – from a kaiju sanctuary run amok to a shortage of Rococo kitchen appliances, and everything in between. Players have 24 hours to “search the multiverse” in a shared search room and submit a solution they believe best suits the assignment. Then, the “Consensus” phase allows the community to vote on each other’s submissions, resulting in a single solution that is delivered to the Caseworkers. While the scenarios are curated by the gamemasters to encourage the most dynamic generations, this section of the story is left entirely in the hands of the player base. By using player submissions in surprising and delightful ways, rather than simply being told a story, the BMA enables the player base to tell a story that is co-authored by themselves, the team behind the game, and the AI that powers it.
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