FOREWORD TO THE 4TH EDITION (C4)
Through countless hours of experimentation organizing our online gaming Community in tactically competitive environments, our founding Constitution was birthed in early 2004. Since the first edition, our Community has grown to reach individuals, communities, professionals, organizations, and humanitarian efforts far beyond our founding mission.
Since the 2010 publishing of the third edition, we have experienced a transformative journey that's empowered our Community with a deeper understanding of our prosocial capabilities in, around, and outside of the online video games we play. We hope this edition will prove so empowering to the reader that its call to action is unavoidable.
In 2011, soldiers and scholars supporting the U.S. Army during the height of Global War on Terror discovered the Division IGR and were struck by the similarities with respect to the development of individuals and communities. In turn, our Community discovered the published work of these Soldier-scholars in Leadership Based Training and Education (LEAD). In an improbable story of mutual discovery, our Community has grown into a social and intellectual force by taking the work in LEAD to the next level.
Uniquely, we recognized that ranks in purposeful communities like the U.S. military can be more like belts in martial arts than political power. Our ranks are not about power over others. Instead, they recognize a hierarchy of responsibility that has to be earned through commitment to others, participation, continual practice, and lifelong learning.
The design of our Community functions to mitigate the power plays and power asymmetries prevalent in the majority of online gaming communities. Being a Member of the Division IGR is about competition with oneself. Akin to the belts of martial arts, earning rank in our Community is about always striving to overcome the limitations of who we were, or who we momentarily may be. It is about the direct and reflective development of mind and body of individuals in the context of a purposeful Community.
Since the 2010 publishing of the third edition, we have experienced a transformative journey that's empowered our Community with a deeper understanding of our prosocial capabilities in, around, and outside of the online video games we play. We hope this edition will prove so empowering to the reader that its call to action is unavoidable.
In 2011, soldiers and scholars supporting the U.S. Army during the height of Global War on Terror discovered the Division IGR and were struck by the similarities with respect to the development of individuals and communities. In turn, our Community discovered the published work of these Soldier-scholars in Leadership Based Training and Education (LEAD). In an improbable story of mutual discovery, our Community has grown into a social and intellectual force by taking the work in LEAD to the next level.
Uniquely, we recognized that ranks in purposeful communities like the U.S. military can be more like belts in martial arts than political power. Our ranks are not about power over others. Instead, they recognize a hierarchy of responsibility that has to be earned through commitment to others, participation, continual practice, and lifelong learning.
The design of our Community functions to mitigate the power plays and power asymmetries prevalent in the majority of online gaming communities. Being a Member of the Division IGR is about competition with oneself. Akin to the belts of martial arts, earning rank in our Community is about always striving to overcome the limitations of who we were, or who we momentarily may be. It is about the direct and reflective development of mind and body of individuals in the context of a purposeful Community.
BOOM—BAP
Expansion of our Community design in this edition was commissioned to integrate our evolved worldview and to ensure our Community's ability to participate in the frontier development of disruptive technology, scientific research, leader development education, and durable social impact through video game design and organized online communities. In addition to our experiences operating successfully in and around the online games we play, this edition reflects our Community's experiences:
- Developing strategic relationships with scientists, entrepreneurs, professors, game developers, special operations veterans, and other gaming communities
- Being recognized scientifically as a model for communities that are both open and selective, with opportunities for legitimate peripheral participation of outsiders provided by visibility into the values, practices, and activities of our Community
- Creating a global coalition of prosocial gamers and communities for the betterment of all gamers and gaming communities
- Co-hosting a first of its kind discussion on TED.com about online gaming community
- Co-founding a social enterprise to support the creation of democratic technologies, interactive art, and gaming community for peace
- Supporting a game development partnership with a pioneering sociotechnical University
- Co-founding a game development studio to support the revival of the games Franchise we were birthed in
- Creating a successful Kickstarter campaign that raised more than $250K
- Supporting humanitarian efforts in the heart and horn of Africa
UNITED WE STAND
We, of the Division IGR, are more than networked gamertags who spend our time consuming online video game technology. We are an organized Community of online gamers who pursue our Primary Purpose in, around, and outside of the online video games we play. We invite you to join us in championing the underdeveloped potential of our world's online gaming communities and the transformative power they possess.
