Summary of what’s happened on the attempt to build a legal system so far:
Well then, should I say that at this point the results are spectacularly uninteresting. Allow me to summarize for you:
Initial conditions: 2000 people put together to try to create a simulated society. Placed in world seeded with resources, and given system to self-regulate.
Results as of 1 1/2 months into experiment: People build many buildings, agressively strip mine Egypt for its natural resources, and complain that they can’t get more resources and build more things. Organization into guilds occurs for some sharing. Legal system’s greatest achievements are allowing people to tear down other’s buildings so they can build more, banning someone from the game, and creating a library where the many failures and few successes can be listed.
Conclusions: Humanity’s natural tendency is to consume. No one wants to give someone any kind of power over them, but they also want someone to fix all of their problems for them. People therefore must be confused and unable to think properly. Experiments should be run on possiblity of extremely damaged brains in all human specimens, due to this illogical behavior.
They’re also polluting the land so badly that nothing will grow. It just cracks me up.
The actual situation is a little less dire than some of the atitd.net forums claim.
Regarding laws, there have been some very comprehensive laws suggested and/or proposed that would strictly regulate various practices. A handful of people think these laws are great, and freak out when they don’t pass. Quite a few other players don’t think they’re needed.
Personally, I can see how some of this stuff may be needed some day. However, at this point there are about 2,000 paying players, spread over an enormous space. Density is very low. Violence is impossible. Theft of items is only possible if you can get someone to give them to you. Theft of buildings is only possible if someone makes you an elder in their guild. So many of the problems that require laws in real life just don’t occur in this game.
The person you’re quoting is also flat out wrong WRT what’s been passed already. There’s a great site here that lists what’s passed, failed, and been implemented.
Regarding pollution, it will be interesting to see how much of a problem this becomes. Mines have had a long-known effect on growing stuff, but it also goes away after a few days, and doesn’t affect a very large area. Most people just take care to grow stuff before working their mines.
The big new building is the Ore Inferno, which actually does kick out a lot of pollution over a larger area. However, it’s so scary looking that people were worried about pollution from the start, and built them away from productive areas. Ours is about a five minute run from camp.
I could see legislation being needed if someone decided to grief an enemy by putting an OI near someone’s camp and running the thing like crazy. Until that happens, though, people tend to vote down regulating laws.
I had been playing the game since day two of live and was fairly active in their forums. People were constantly talking about the chance that someone would grief someone else by doing X. Mysterious activity X was always evolving from sheep pox to mining to bonfire stacking to, now, pollution. I believe this is a case study that there will always be people worrying about the worst case scenario and willing to pass a series of comprehensive laws JUST IN CASE it may one day happen. I mean here you have a game where there is no violence or any really bad crime and people are still looking to pass laws to create a solution by government fiat just in case.
Sad, really.
Voltaic, agreed.
I think the laws that have passed that restrict things have been in response to specific, occuring problems, not theoretical ones. The recent law requiring obelisks to stay up for 31 days before being salvagable is a good example of this.
Are you still playing? I haven’t seen you on the atitd.net boards recently.
Hmm, ok. Anyone still playing? It’s just me and a bunch of strangers…
I’m playing… :? Having a pretty good time. I really enjoy building stuff and making things. I am a little put off by the tests however. They require you to be soical on a GRAND scale and though I enjoy being in a good guild and playing with freinds I am just not that outgoing. (One test requires that you trade exercisis for long periods of time with something like 50 people minimum. :shock: )
This is half of my perfect game. If I could just fuse the ATiTD craft/production system (minus the social system) with DaoC I would be one happy camper. (DaoC has a craft system that is worse then none IMO)
Cheers,
Ron
(Sethnif in ATITD)
I’d really like to see ATITD succeed for the long term well enough that Teppy et al can branch out and create other games that share some of the really cool characteristics of ATITD.
From my perspective (somebody who doesn’t really like being forced into coop play) this game was a bit too idealistic. They created a game that basically requires cooperation on a grand scale. Although I had fun soloing for a while, I just didn’t feel you could really continue to progress in the game without spending a LOT of time doing very menial tasks with 10-100 of your favorite strangers.
I’d like to see another game that takes the non-violent and society aspects of ATITD and makes it a bit more flexible as far as play styles are concerned.
I would have stuck around much longer if there was a monetary system and if it was possible to design and build your own house, to build furniture, and to personalize the game experience in ways other than getting the most efficient layout for your “camp.”
I’m playing… :? Having a pretty good time. I really enjoy building stuff and making things. I am a little put off by the tests however. They require you to be soical on a GRAND scale and though I enjoy being in a good guild and playing with freinds I am just not that outgoing. (One test requires that you trade exercisis for long periods of time with something like 50 people minimum. :shock: )
This is half of my perfect game. If I could just fuse the ATiTD craft/production system (minus the social system) with DaoC I would be one happy camper. (DaoC has a craft system that is worse then none IMO)
Cheers,
Ron
(Sethnif in ATITD)[/quote]
Hmm, where’s your guild located? I don’t see you in the atitd.info guild registry (Hronk, somewhere in Egypt).
Edit: Never mind, found it with /info.
Nah, I cancelled my account. I was spending way too much time “working” and not very much time “playing”. I cancelled a few days before Teppy introduced the offline stuff (grass, onions, etc) but even then I don’t know if I’d still be in. The guild that GMicek and I started is still around though, Wrath of Ra located in North RP. Supermike from QT3 is pretty much the leading member in that guild now as far as I can tell. I did like fishing.
The tests requiring social interaction isn’t 100% true even though many/most people say it. Art comes to mind unless you count people voting on your shit as a social interaction. Conflict is solo unless you mean that finding opponents to various games is a social skill. Body was solo before the latest acrobatics test was introduced. Thought is likely to be very solo-friendly. I’m just not convinced that all tests are like these huge “gathering” events the way that architecture or leadership (obviously) are.
I guess my problem with the game was it was supposed to be a grand simulation of society and community building, but it never became that. The closest thing to large scale social interaction is just bitching about a bunch of asshole teenagers that are minmaxing the system.
Ah well, good idea and all that, but if you leave the system that open ended most people will look out for #1.
