The Splinternet is a dynamic tug-of-war between competing interests — national agendas, business profits, and civic rights. No two gameplay sessions will turn out the same way.
Each participant assumes a stakeholder identity: regulator, technology firm, local business, civil society actor, or other power center shaping the digital ecosystem.
You receive Secret Agenda Cards that define what success looks like for you. Your objectives may align with others — or they may directly conflict.
Your success is measured by how effectively you bend the global internet toward your specific vision of sovereignty or openness.
Each round centers on a Statement Card representing a critical digital policy flashpoint — like data localisation, platform liability, or encryption standards.
Every round has three phases:
Each decision shifts the system toward open, restricted, or firewalled states — changing the terrain of the internet for everyone.
In this simulation, influence is a currency. Tokens represent political capital, market share, or social trust.
Governments extract tokens through regulatory action. Corporations and citizens earn them through successful negotiation and debate.
Tokens are your only way to fund coalitions or survive a hostile policy shift.
As the system evolves, players work quietly toward completing their hidden objectives.
Some benefit from openness. Others from control. Some from instability.
When agendas are fulfilled, they are revealed — exposing who has successfully shaped the trajectory of the internet.
Experience the game firsthand. The interactive demo below puts you in the room.
The session concludes when agendas are completed or the policy cycle runs its course. The final state of the internet is revealed — and with it, the winners, the losers, and the compromises that shaped it all.
◄ BACK TO HOME