From: Dave Sill (extropians@dave.sill.org)
Date: Mon Feb 25 2002 - 19:18:01 MST
Richard Steven Hack <richardhack@pcmagic.net> wrote:
>
> But how do you keep the game going as you want it to if no one is playing
> by the rules?
By building the laws into the physics of the universe, you make it
impossible to break them.
> What distinguishes the game from being the real world?
The distinction is becoming less clear every day, isn't it?
> Where is the benefit of playing a virtual world if in fact it is
> indistinguishable from the real world?
A libertarian world wouldn't be that hard to distinguish from the real
world.
> I'm having trouble understanding
> your point. On the one hand, you suggest creating a game that supports a
> lib viewpoint, on the other hand you say if doesn't matter if the players
> ignore that viewpoint and act against it.
That's what libertarianism is all about: letting people do what they
want. It's not about forcing everyone to think the same way.
> ...On the other hand, if
> you abandon the lib VN concept, one could create a VN with large numbers of
> players IF there was a hook (such as sex) to draw them in in the first place.
The trouble with peddling sex online is that it raises all sorts of
real world legal issues.
> The Libertarian Party has been trying for thirty years to build its
> strength. They have probably no more than 30,000 members - out of a
> national population of 300 million. And it took them thirty years to build
> that - an average of 1,000 members a year. And these are relatively hard
> core libs. You'll never get 300,000 libs into a VN at that rate.
I think the idea is to plant a seed and hope that it grows into
something bigger, demonstrating the virtues of libertarianism and
exposing people to libertarian ideas in action and hopefully
converting some in the process. Marketing it as "Libertopia" would be
a big mistake, I think, because libertarianism isn't on most people's
radar, and most of those familiar with it have already decided whether
they like the idea or not.
> If you drop the political stance, however, the question arises: what will
> the VN look like?
If you give people art supplies, what will their artwork look like?
Who knows?
The control that the operators of existing games exercise gives the
games a distinctive look and feel, but it also makes the worlds
predictable and boring. Personal interactions are still pretty
uncontrolled, and therefore unpredictable and interesting. A
libertarian world would be orders of magnitude more unpredictable.
> If sex - or anything else - doesn't need to be put in the game, then what's
> the point of the game? I'm trying to pin down what this game is supposed
> to do besides waste time in imaginary pursuits. On the one hand, you
> suggest all sorts of benefits - on the other, you say these things already
> go on without the game. So why play the game?
People play games because they enjoy it. I'd play because I'd like to
see how libertarianism would work in action--even if it's "just a
game". It'd also help me understand libertarianism better, which would
probably make me more effective at spreading the idea to others,
especially those who don't play the game.
-Dave
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