Framework Analysis: This content builds upon insights originally shared in LinkedIn Article - January 26, 2025, expanded here with systematic framework analysis and implementation guidance.
OpenSeriousGame Movement: A Systems Approach to Viral Knowledge Transmission
Framework analysis based on 7 years of movement building and systems design
Framework Overview
OpenSeriousGame represents a breakthrough in viral knowledge transmission - a systematic approach to creating self-sustaining learning ecosystems that transform participants into active knowledge transmitters. Unlike traditional training models, this framework demonstrates how viral transformation principles can create exponential learning impact with minimal resources.
Core Innovation: Beyond Simple Virality
The fundamental innovation isn’t just virality in the sense of momentary buzz that’s quickly forgotten. Instead, we achieved viral transformation—where everyone touched by the “virus” changes state and earns a long-term capability to share, becoming both a beneficiary and a transmitter, creating a self-sustaining chain of knowledge sharing and personal development.
What is OpenSeriousGame?
OpenSeriousGame is a tag name for a movement that uses open-source serious games. These are mostly live workshops using the same mechanics as board or card games, facilitated by a host who helps players “play to learn” a specific topic that could be useful beyond the instant pleasure of playing.
The key innovation is open source principles applied to knowledge transmission, with the purpose of helping everyone awaken their ability to transfer knowledge. More information at openseriousgames.org.
User experience progression: You play a game → become a host → learn to create games → build your own community → create your own movement. Everything is designed to make these steps easy, shared, and evolutionary.
Proven Results After 7 Years (2018-2025)
Scale and Impact 📊
- Games: 99 serious games documented from diverse creators
- Community: 120 manifesto signatories, 1,760 Meetup members (4.5/5 rating from 543 reviews)
- Content: 152 articles published, full podcast series (#OpenSeriousStories), video content by multiple creators
- Events: 60+ recorded public events, hundreds of freely organized sessions
- Educational Impact: Over 100,000 students reached through CyberEnJeux program alone
Geographical Expansion 🌍
- 20+ cities with active meetups
- 3+ countries (France, Belgium, Tunisia)
- Viral propagation continuing independently 7 years later
Organizations Involved (44+) 🏢
From major corporations (BNP Paribas, GRDF, Thales) to public institutions (French Education Ministry, ANSSI) and academic establishments (HEC Paris, University of Strasbourg, SKEMA).
The Hybrid Diffusion Strategy
A key strategic element was combining two diffusion models:
Broadcast Distribution
- Online presence and centralized resources
- Media coverage and content publication
- Wide reach and accessibility
Viral Person-to-Person Transmission
- Real-life interactions and transformations
- Deeper engagement and commitment
- Community building and local adaptation
This hybrid approach leveraged the scale of digital broadcasting while maintaining the depth and transformative power of in-person experiences.
Three-Level Systemic Philosophy
🎯 STRUCTURAL GUIDANCE LEVEL
Systems & Governance
👥 INDIVIDUAL LEVEL
Human Evolution
📚 CONTENT LEVEL
Games & Knowledge Base
Content Level 📚
- Reliance on Procedural Memory: Structuring content as games for lasting transmission and retention
- Systematic Open-Source: “The more we transmit, the more we evolve, the less time we spend on rent-seeking”
- Evolution Toward Abstraction: From concrete workshops → game templates → community templates → movement templates
- Compound Strategy: More structure → More viral games → More facilitators → More communities → More propagation
- Universal Topics Selection: Games addressing subjects most people could use (feedback, communication, negotiation, debriefing)
Individual Level 👥
Self-Growing Growth System: The only way to advance is by helping others advance. This anti-pyramid structure ensures that individual evolution is based solely on helping others evolve, creating sustainable growth patterns.
- Transmission-Focused Evolution: Clear pathways for everyone to become transmitters
- Anti-Pyramid Structure: “One’s evolution based solely on helping others evolve”
- Collective Alignment: Global narrative (helping everyone awaken transmission abilities) vs individual focus
- Minimal Structural Elements: Limited common principles make propagation easier
- Highlighting Others: Collective contributions first, individual recognition second
- Intercepting Natural Potential: Multiplying existing human desire to share knowledge
- The Human Ingredient: Virtue of movement participants - desire to transmit, meaning from sharing
Structural Guidance Level 🎯
- Minimal Governance: “Steer as little as possible” - less than 10 structural meetings in 7 years
- Natural Rhythm Acceptance: Allow operational slowdowns, don’t force manual pushing
- Critique Integration: Transform each criticism into structural elements to spread
- Systems Over Directives: Focus on system rules rather than piloting individual performance
- Maximum Replicability: Share resources so movement can be rebuilt anywhere
- Real-Life Experience Priority: Intensity of real-life moments over online engagement
- Integration with Existing Communities: Build within established networks rather than competing
Cultural Influences and System Design
The framework was inspired by several key sources:
- Plague Inc: Provided frameworks for viral thinking and virus design—how to create something that spreads organically and transforms its carriers
Plague Inc demonstrated how to design systems for exponential propagation with mutations and adaptations that accelerate spread. Our goal was to apply these principles to positive knowledge transmission.
Factorio: Inspired compound thinking and the layering of structural elements; designing systems that automate and expand themselves round after round
Factorio taught us compound automation - each level of building enables higher levels of building. This became our model for how learning systems should evolve.
- Foundation (Asimov): The concept of creating a base of knowledge useful for generations to come
Foundation books inspired OpenSeriousGame to think at civilizational scale - creating knowledge systems that could rebuild themselves across generations.
Cell to Singularity: Taught us to think in terms of evolutionary levels of increasing complexity
Cell to Singularity demonstrated how systems can evolve through complexity levels, where each stage enables the next level of development.
- Martial Arts Propagation: Learners naturally becoming teachers
- Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations: Stoic principles of contributing to collective development beyond individual life
Key Systemic Insights
- Self-Organization Power: No formal authority, no piloting - pure emergence
- Purpose Beyond Growth: Quest-focused rather than size-focused
- Decentralization Strategy: Multiplication possibilities rather than centralized control
- Non-Coercive Approach: No power struggles or pressure tactics
- Value Alignment: Everything promoted transmission, sharing, collectivity
- Real vs Virtual Experience: Physical presence for deeper transformation
- Multiplicative Effect: Systemic design created self-reinforcing dynamics
The Unique Value of Live Gaming
Enhanced Memory Retention 🧠
Live experiences create lasting procedural memories. Example: participants replay games years later in different contexts without refresher training.
Full-Bandwidth Human Interface 🤝
Live games utilize complete human interface - movement, emotion, presence - providing far greater learning bandwidth than screen-based activities. Physical presence activates bonding mechanisms that pure digital cannot replicate.
Implementation Framework
Phase 1: Content Foundation
- Create universal-topic serious games
- Establish open-source documentation
- Design for viral transmission (players become facilitators)
Phase 2: Community Seeding
- Integrate with existing communities
- Train initial facilitator cohort
- Establish minimal governance structures
Phase 3: Viral Expansion
- Enable community-driven growth
- Maintain quality through peer networks
- Document and share replication resources
Phase 4: Movement Evolution
- Allow natural rhythm cycles
- Integrate criticism as system improvements
- Enable geographic and cultural adaptation
Limitations and Evolution
Current Constraints
- Heavy meeting dependency - works well in dense cities, limited in dispersed areas
- Physical presence requirement - COVID significantly impacted propagation
- Language barriers - mostly French content limits global expansion
- Technical skill gaps - many propagators need non-technical tools
Next Generation Evolution
- AI-Enhanced Generation: Serious game generators for custom contexts
- True Open Source Migration: Move to GitHub/GitLab for maximum accessibility
- Global Language Expansion: English translation for worldwide reach
- Hybrid Physical-Digital: Maintain transformation depth with wider accessibility
Success Metrics
- Viral Transformation Coefficient: Percentage of participants becoming facilitators
- Self-Organization Index: Events happening without central coordination
- Knowledge Retention Rate: Long-term application and replay frequency
- Geographic Reach Expansion: Cities and countries with active communities
- Organizational Penetration: Types and scale of adopting institutions
Connection to Broader Systems
This framework connects to several concepts I’ve been developing:
Compound Thinking: Each viral transmission compounds the movement’s collective capability exponentially
Collective Intelligence: The movement becomes more intelligent and capable as it grows
Knowledge Graphs: Content connects and reinforces across multiple domains and contexts
ECC Method: Similar principles of systematic change through indirect influence and community building
Systems Thinking: Multi-level design (structural, individual, content) creates emergent properties
Implementation Guide
For Organizations
- Start Small: Begin with universal topics that benefit multiple departments
- Enable Champions: Identify and train internal facilitators
- Provide Resources: Allocate time and space for knowledge sharing sessions
- Measure Transformation: Track how many participants become facilitators
- Connect Communities: Link internal efforts to broader movements
For Movement Builders
- Design for Transmission: Every element should enable participants to become transmitters
- Minimize Governance: Create systems that self-organize rather than requiring management
- Embrace Criticism: Transform critique into system improvements
- Focus on Experience: Prioritize transformative moments over metrics
- Enable Replication: Share everything needed for others to rebuild elsewhere
For Learning Professionals
- Shift to Viral Thinking: Design learning that creates more learner-teachers
- Use Procedural Memory: Structure knowledge as experiential games
- Build Communities: Connect learners to become mutual teachers
- Open Source Content: Share resources to accelerate collective learning
- Measure Propagation: Track how learning spreads beyond initial sessions
Call to Action
The future of learning won’t be built by institutions alone—it will emerge from networks of passionate individuals who think systemically and act collectively.
Questions for Your Context:
- What knowledge do you possess that could become “viral” in transforming others into teachers?
- How could your organization benefit from viral knowledge transmission principles?
- What would happen if every workplace had people skilled in systematic knowledge sharing?
- How might you design learning systems that evolve themselves automatically?
The most meaningful action we can take is contributing to collective human development. Not for fame or profit, but because this is how we transcend individual limitations and create something that outlasts us all.
Future Applications
This framework has potential applications in:
- Corporate Learning & Development
- Educational Institution Reform
- Community Building Initiatives
- Social Movement Design
- Technology Platform Development
- Cultural Preservation Projects
The principles of viral transformation, minimal governance, and three-level systemic design can adapt to virtually any context requiring sustainable knowledge transmission and community development.
This framework analysis demonstrates how systematic viral transformation can create exponential impact with minimal resources. For more frameworks and methodologies, explore the complete collection at quach.fr/frameworks.