The Bureau of Multiversal Arbitration
— Star St.Germain
It’s a multiverse, not a metaverse. The Bureau of Multiversal Arbitration was a narrative game that leveraged generative AI as a core mechanic, unlocking creativity, collaboration, and emergent storytelling. The game aimed to experiment with generative AI as a tool for collaborative storytelling, allowing players to craft narratives together in a novel, interactive way. The BMA utilized Stable Diffusion, an open-source neural network developed by Stability AI, which describes its work as “AI by the people for the people.” Within the game, the BMA itself was depicted as an inter-dimensional agency helping resolve crises across multiverses.
Players took on roles as “Arbiters” for the BMA, tasked with finding solutions from different multiverses to tackle unique client problems. The game was structured as a series of weekly events, with players progressing through three phases: submitting solutions, voting, and watching video updates documenting the consequences of their choices. Each week began with the assignment of a casefile that described a new client’s predicament, such as an issue with a kaiju sanctuary or a shortage of rococo kitchen appliances. In response, players had 24 hours to “search the multiverse” in a shared digital space and submit what they believed to be the best solution.
Next, during the consensus phase, the community evaluated and voted on each other’s submissions, ultimately selecting a single solution for the caseworkers to implement. While the game’s scenarios were curated by gamemasters to inspire dynamic player responses, the players’ own creativity shaped each outcome. The inclusion of nonplayer caseworker characters also added a layer of interactive theater, enhancing the experience with a sense of lively participation in a fictional world.
At the end, players received a Final Observation Report, a video update that presented the chosen solution and illustrated the story’s consequences, often with surprising twists. This phase brought the winning submission, along with notable runners-up, to life through immersive storytelling. The BMA’s one-month pilot season concluded in December 2022 with a live finale, where players joined a voice chat to interact directly with characters and defeat the overarching villain they had unintentionally created by “finding” him through their multiversal searches.