Coordination Game
Coordination Game
The Coordination Game examines how individuals and groups align their actions to achieve common goals — or fail to do so.
It is the positive counterpart to the destructive coordination failures seen in the Moloch Game.
Core Idea
Successful civilizations require high-quality coordination: people working together toward shared, reality-aligned goals with trust, clear communication, and mutual benefit.
Key Elements of Good Coordination
- High trust and low transaction costs
- Shared standards, language, and values
- Effective leadership and clear incentives
- Ability to punish defection and reward cooperation
- Long time horizons and legacy thinking
Common Failure Modes
- Fragmentation and tribalism
- Misaligned incentives (Moloch dynamics)
- Loss of common knowledge and standards
- Infiltration by Slave Owner tactics
Sovereign Approach
- Build small, high-trust groups first (families, communities, parallel institutions)
- Establish clear rules, standards, and accountability
- Scale coordination only after smaller units prove reliable
- Use Skin in the Game and Results & Consequences to maintain alignment
High-quality coordination is one of the greatest advantages a civilization can have. The Sovereign Games aim to restore and improve it.
See the Game. Refuse the Game. Build Better.