July 2003
- Hackers Put 'Bane' in Shadowbane vladimir cole
- Display Cheats [Was MMO Launch issues...] Phillip Lenhardt
- Display Cheats [Was MMO Launch issues...] Owen Matt
- Display Cheats [Was MMO Launch issues...] Thomas Tomiczek
- Display Cheats [Was MMO Launch issues...] ceo
- Display Cheats [Was MMO Launch issues...] Peter "Pietro" Rossmann
- Display Cheats [Was MMO Launch issues...] Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Corba + pvm for servers? + UML + case tools Peter "Pietro" Rossmann
- Material state transformations Yuri Bazhukov
- Material state transformations Chris "Diamonds" Stewart
- Material state transformations Zach Collins {Siege}
- Material state transformations Yuri Bazhukov
- Material state transformations Nicolai Hansen
- Material state transformations Jason Murdick
- Material state transformations Travis Casey
- Material state transformations McDonald, Stephen
- Material state transformations Zach Collins {Siege}
- Material state transformations Richard A. Bartle
- Material state transformations Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Programming Languages. Matthew Estes
- Programming Languages. Peter "Pietro" Rossmann
- Programming Languages. Matthew Estes
- Programming Languages. J C Lawrence
- Programming Languages. Christopher Kohnert
- Programming Languages. J C Lawrence
- Programming Languages. Christopher Kohnert
- Programming Languages. Bruce Mitchener
- Programming Languages. Roy Trubshaw
- Programming Languages. Richard A. Bartle
- Programming Languages. Roy Trubshaw
- Programming Languages. Richard A. Bartle
- Programming Languages. Roy Trubshaw
- Programming Languages. Peter "Pietro" Rossmann
- Programming Languages. MIKE MacMartin
- Programming Languages. Kwon J. Ekstrom
- Programming Languages. Mike Shaver
- Programming Languages. MIKE MacMartin
- Programming Languages. Peter "Pietro" Rossmann
- Programming Languages. Bruce Mitchener
- Programming Languages. F. Randall Farmer
- Programming Languages. Kwon J. Ekstrom
- Programming Languages. J C Lawrence
- Geographical space paritioning ceo
- Geographical space paritioning Peter "Pietro" Rossmann
- R: The Price of Being Male Ghilardi Filippo
- Autumn books ceo
- [NEC] 2.8: A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy (fwd) J C Lawrence
- [NEC] 2.8: A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy (fwd) Michael Tresca
- [NEC] 2.8: A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy (fwd) Michael Tresca
- [NEC] 2.8: A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy (fwd) Marc Bowden
- [NEC] 2.8: A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy (fwd) Michael Tresca
- [NEC] 2.8: A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy (fwd) Paul Schwanz
- [NEC] 2.8: A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy (fwd) Jeff Cole
- [NEC] 2.8: A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy (fwd) Michael Tresca
- [NEC] 2.8: A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy (fwd) Jeff Cole
- [NEC] 2.8: A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy (fwd) Michael Tresca
- [NEC] 2.8: A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy (fwd) Crosbie Fitch
- Architecture (Cell Rebalancing) - working-sets ceo
- Internationalisation: The effect of Tongues in virtual societes Peter "Pietro" Rossmann
- Internationalisation: The effect of Tongues in virtual societes Michael Chui
- Internationalisation: The effect of Tongues in virtual societes Ghovs
- Internationalisation: The effect of Tongues in virtualsocietes David Kennerly
- Internationalisation: The effect of Tongues in virtual societes Shu-yu Guo {Laptop}
- Internationalisation: The effect of Tongues in virtualsocietes Peter "Pietro" Rossmann
- Internationalisation: The effect of Tongues in virtualsocietes Amanda Walker
- Internationalisation: The effect of Tongues in virtualsocietes Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- When will new MMORPGs that are coming out get original with the gameplay? Daniel Anderson
- When will new MMORPGs that are coming out get original withthe gameplay? David Kennerly
- When will new MMORPGs that are coming out get originalwiththe gameplay? Derek Licciardi
- When will new MMORPGs that are coming out get original withthe gameplay? Paul Schwanz
- When will new MMORPGs that are coming out get original withthe gameplay? Matt Mihaly
- When will new MMORPGs that are coming out get original withthe gameplay? Matt Mihaly
- When will new MMORPGs that are coming out get original withthe gameplay? Sasha Hart
- When will new MMORPGs that are coming out get original withthe gameplay? kennerly@sfsu.edu
- When will new MMORPGs that are coming out get original withthe gameplay? Sasha Hart
- When will new MMORPGs that are coming out get original withthe gameplay? Daniel James
- When will new MMORPGs that are coming out get originalwiththe gameplay? David Kennerly
- When will new MMORPGs that are coming out get original withthe gameplay? Michael Tresca
- When will new MMORPGs that are coming out get original with the gameplay? Martin Bassie
- When will new MMORPGs that are coming out get original with the gameplay? Daniel James
- When will new MMORPGs that are coming out get originalwith the gameplay? Daniel Anderson
- When will new MMORPGs that are coming out get original with the gameplay? J C Lawrence
- When will new MMORPGs that are coming out get origi nal with the gameplay? Christer Enfors XW {KS/EIN}
- When will new MMORPGs that are coming out get original with the gameplay? Snicker Furfoot
- When will new MMORPGs that are coming out get origi nal with the gameplay? Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- When will new MMORPGs that are coming out get original withthe gameplay? Jason Smith
- When will new MMORPGs that are coming out get original with the gameplay? Matt Mihaly
- When will new MMORPGs that are coming out get origi nal with the gameplay? Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- When will new MMORPGs that are coming out get original with the gameplay? J C Lawrence
- When will new MMORPGs that are coming out get original with the gameplay? Brian 'Psychochild' Green
- When will new MMORPGs that are coming out get original withthe gameplay? Christopher Allen
- R: Internationalisation: The effect of Tongues in virtualsocietes Ghilardi Filippo
- Can "non-twitch" ranged-combat be fun in a MMORPG? Daniel Anderson
- Can "non-twitch" ranged-combat be fun in a MMORPG? Paolo Piselli
- Can "non-twitch" ranged-combat be fun in a MMORPG? Zach Collins {Siege}
- Can "non-twitch" ranged-combat be fun in a MMORPG? John Buehler
- A system for lives, death, old age, PK and perma death Eamonn O'Brien
- A system for lives, death, old age, PK and perma death Kyuss
- A system for lives, death, old age, PK and perma death Sasha Hart
- A system for lives, death, old age, PK and perma de ath Smith, David {Lynchburg}
- A system for lives, death, old age, PK and perma death David H. Loeser Jr.
- A system for lives, death, old age, PK and perma death Sasha Hart
- A system for lives, death, old age, PK and perma death Eamonn O'Brien
- RE:When will new MMORPGs that are coming out get original with the gameplay? Mike Mormando
- Online Gamers become enemies in the Real World Rayzam
- Online Gamers become enemies in the Real World J C Lawrence
- Online Gamers become enemies in the Real World Peter Tyson
- Online Gamers become enemies in the Real World Vincent Archer
- Online Gamers become enemies in the Real World Travis Nixon
- Online Gamers become enemies in the Real World Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Multithreading/accept? MIKE MacMartin
- Multithreading/accept? MIKE MacMartin
- When will new MMORPGs that are coming out get original with gameplay? Daniel Anderson
- Java servers and hacking ceo
- Understanding MMOGs ceo
- R: Internationalisation: The effect of Tongues invirtualsocietes Ghilardi Filippo
- A proposed new law of online world design buddy@riseup.net
- A proposed new law of online world design Marc Bowden
- Inside eGenesis: The Simulation of Power and Politics J C Lawrence
http://www.gamegirladvance.com/archives/2003/06/24/inside_egenesis_the_simulation_of_power_and_politics.html
--<cut>--
Inside eGenesis: The Simulation of Power and Politics
A Tale in the Desert
by Jia Ji
I recently began working at eGenesis, the developers of "A Tale in the
Desert" (www.atitd.com), a massively multiplayer online game set in
ancient Egypt that just went live about four months ago. It's a small
company with a unique product, a MMPOG with no combat but an amazingly
complex socioeconomic and legal system. Usually, I describe our game as
a historical simulation, a mixture of the Sims and Civilization with
real people thrown in to make it interesting.
In ATITD, one of the main goals is to overcome complex challenges called
"the tests." We activated one of the tests last week, "The Test of the
Demi-Pharaoh." At its core, the test is simple: the people of Egypt
elect one player to be the Demi-Pharaoh (DP). The DP's sole impressive,
but horrible, power is the ability to permanently exile up to seven
player characters (but not accounts) from Egypt. It's really a test of
the playerbase's ability to identify leaders who can resist the abuse of
power. This is one of the tests in the discipline of leadership - there
are also tests in six other disciplines: art, the human body, conflict,
worship, architecture, and thought.
Our DP election system is quite similar to how leaders get elected in
real life . Everyone who has passed the initiation test of Leadership
(which requires one to get twenty signatures on a petition saying that
one is fit to participate in the governing of Egypt), is entered into a
game-worldwide election. For the first round, one is randomly placed
into a group of seven other players. A new chat channel is created in
game for your group and you have three real life days to decide who will
advance to the next round of voting. Everyone has one vote and can vote
for anyone (including themselves) and switch their vote at any
time. Only one person out of every group can advance. If there is a tie,
no one advances from that group. This process continues until there is
only one group of seven left and the final round of voting starts, which
lasts a week. In this final round, every subscribed player of the game
gets one vote for who will become the true DP. This voting process
occurs about once a month, meaning only around seven people will ever
become DP before this telling of the game ends.
Now just like real world politics, getting elected isn't as easy as it
sounds. In addition to the players' natural tendency to fight amongst
themselves for influence and prestige, we have also given the
Demi-Pharaoh the gameworld equivalent of a nuclear bomb. When a player's
character is exiled, they lose all their possessions, buildings, guild
affiliations, skills, statistics, etc?basically resetting a character
back to zero. Though being exiled does not ban your game account, it is
quite likely that if your character was exiled, you would quit the game
since we only allow one character per game account. You would basically
lose all the progress you've made in the game so far and have to begin
entirely anew, which is very discouraging to say the least. Not
surprisingly, some players are against the whole idea of the DP ever
using the exile power. Some players have theorized that if the DP ever
did use the power to exile an enemy, it would be a pyrrhic victory at
best since doing so would immediately result in not only in revenge from
that enemy's allies but also the general animosity of a playerbase
fearful of exile. Thus, it would seem that brinksmanship would be the
best strategy, to threaten one's enemies with exile but never quite
actually do so.
Now that I've explained the theoretical aspects of the test, we can move
on to the practical, what happened when we tried to implement the test
during this last week. First of all, before the test even began, an
intense debate began over the status of Game Masters (GMs) in the
election process. The developers felt that GMs should not participate in
the test since they would have an unfair advantage. Since the test is
basically about who do you trust with an immense terrible power, GMs
would likely become the default voting choice of the general public
through their association as informal eGenesis game staff. Indeed, we
already give GMs a lot of power, such as the ability to warp anywhere in
the game, move buildings, and summon players. Thus if we, the game
developers, already trust the GMs with so much power already, it seems
logical that players would be quite willing to trust them with the
position of DP. So that's why we asked the GMs to not participate in the
test since they would have an unfair advantage due to their infamy and
association with the administration of the game.
Though the majority of the GMs agreed with us, a few raised
objections. The Test of the Demi-Pharaoh is well-known in the game as
possibly the hardest, most challenging test of the game. Many players
consider passing the test as the ultimate achievement of the
game. Understandably, a few of the GMs were disappointed when we
informed them that they could not participate. Additionally, many of our
GMs were former testers of our game who had participated in DP elections
during previous betas and had expected to once again when the game went
live. Andrew Tepper, our lead developer, quickly made time in his
schedule to have a long talk with the GMs about our reasoning and work
out a compromise. Eventually, using his in game character, Pharaoh, he
called an ingame Egypt-wide poll on whether GMs should be allowed to run
for DP or not. After intense deliberation, a compromise was decided
where GMs would not be allowed to run but they would be immune from the
DP's exile power. However, by this time, the debate had already
generated much discussion in the forums that even after this compromise
was agreed upon, some players brought up the issue again through our
ingame legal system. Within a day, one player had drafted up a new law
called "GMs should be able to run for DP" and submitted it to the voting
booths. Interestingly enough, this law failed by a sizable majority of
votes, showing that players were perhaps annoyed that this issue was
being brought up again after they considered it resolved.
An interesting side consequence of these debates is that players have
started proposing new laws regarding the legal status of GMs
ingame. Since our game attempts to simulate real life social
interactions as accurately as possible, there are no "anti-griefing"
policies. Players are free to interact with other players in whatever
fashion they wish, whether they be a saint or a misanthrope. Thus,
unlike others games, GMs are not obligated to respond to player
complaints about other players who are behaving like "asshats." Instead,
our ingame legal system is supposed to allow players to deal with such
undesirable elements of society. Examples of such laws proposed by
players are "Removal of Zombie's Last Message" which erased a rather
rude word spelled out with chests constructed by a juvenile player and
the "Departed Person Building Reclamation Act" which allows the salvage
of abandoned buildings or those created by people "banished" from
Egypt. Additionally, some clever players have formed a "Mediators Guild"
which provides neutral third-party arbitration services to other players
involved in a dispute.
Currently, we are now almost into the final round of DP elections. In
days since the Test of the Demi-Pharaoh started, several interesting
campaign strategies have emerged. Some players are bribing other players
for their votes with ingame resources or favors. Others are forming
political parties to used their combined voting power to sway the
election process. One player even made an elaborate campaign poster
which he posted on the forums to garner votes. Even real campaign
platforms are starting to emerge. Several candidates favor establishing
an ingame centralized government through the position of DP in order to
coordinate player actions to advance Egypt as a whole. We even have the
equivalent of a "Green Party" which believes that mining, heavy
industrial production, and other activities that have a detrimental
effect on the gameworld's environment should be limited and regulated.
While the political dealings and debates in ATITD are a far cry from the
complexities of real life government, it is remarkable how quickly the
players developed a dynamic system of structured interactions. In fact,
one of the latest development is a player-run betting pool on who will
advance in each round of voting and who will eventually become the true
DP. Though some would argue that gambling cheapens the whole event, we
prefer to let the players themselves decide which direction the game
will take. Rather than step in and preach morals by setting arbitrary
rules, we prefer to let the players police themselves.
Posted by jane at June 24, 2003 10:07 AM
--<cut>--
--
J C Lawrence
---------(*) Satan, oscillate my metallic sonatas.
claw@kanga.nu He lived as a devil, eh?
http://www.kanga.nu/~claw/ Evil is a name of a foeman, as I live. - Inside eGenesis: The Simulation of Power and Politics Chris Holko
- Inside eGenesis: The Simulation of Power and Politics Matt Mihaly
- Inside eGenesis: The Simulation of Power and Politics Andrew L. Tepper
- Academic rejection of male/female paper Castronova, Edward
- Academic rejection of male/female paper Tess Snider
- Academic rejection of male/female paper Castronova, Edward
- Academic rejection of male/female paper Richard A. Bartle
- Academic rejection of male/female paper Castronova, Edward
- Academic rejection of male/female paper Richard A. Bartle
- Academic rejection of male/female paper Marian Griffith
- Academic rejection of male/female paper Amanda Walker
- Academic rejection of male/female paper Ren Reynolds
- Alternate Business Models Ben Tolputt
- To Kill an Avatar kennerly@sfsu.edu
- To Kill an Avatar Ren Reynolds
- To Kill an Avatar David Kennerly
- To Kill an Avatar Ren Reynolds
- To Kill an Avatar Castronova, Edward
- To Kill an Avatar Daniel Anderson
- To Kill an Avatar Matt Mihaly
- To Kill an Avatar David Kennerly
- Natalia? Richard A. Bartle
- When will new MMORPGs that are coming out get original with gameplay? Daniel Anderson
- Thailand curfew Richard A. Bartle
- Counting Massive Multi Players David Kennerly
- Counting Massive Multi Players Koster, Raph
- Counting Massive Multi Players Castronova, Edward
- Counting Massive Multi Players Jeremy Gaffney
- Counting Massive Multi Players Madrona Tree
- Counting Massive Multi Players Jeremy Gaffney
- Counting Massive Multi Players Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Counting Massive Multi Players Lars Duening
- Counting Massive Multi Players Jeremy Gaffney
- Counting Massive Multi Players Jeremy Gaffney
- Counting Massive Multi Players David Kennerly
- Metrics for assessing game design [was: When will new MMORPGs that are coming out get original with the gameplay?] ceo
- Looking for Paul Schwanz Richard A. Bartle
- Does anyone know the subscription numbers on SWG? Daniel Anderson
- Does anyone know the subscription numbers on SWG? Jason Murdick
- Does anyone know the subscription numbers on SWG? Chris "Diamonds" Stewart
- R: Counting Massive Multi Players Ghilardi Filippo
- Metrics for assessing game design hart.s@comcast.net
- Metrics for assessing game design Matt Mihaly
- Metrics for assessing game design Ron Gabbard
- Metrics for assessing game design Jeremy Gaffney
- Metrics for assessing game design Ron Gabbard
- Metrics for assessing game design ceo
- Metrics for assessing game design katie@stickydata.com
- Metrics for assessing game design Damion Schubert
- Metrics for assessing game design katie@stickydata.com
- Metrics for assessing game design ceo
- Metrics for assessing game design Paul Schwanz
- Wanted: Lead Designer and Lead Technical Artist Matt Mihaly
- BBG's a link to the past Corpheous Andrakin
- BBG's a link to the past Edward Glowacki
- BBG's a link to the past Paul Schwanz
- BBG's a link to the past ceo
- BBG's a link to the past DomQ
- Value of PvP avatars (was: To Kill an Avatar) Castronova, Edward
- Value of PvP avatars (was: To Kill an Avatar) Robert Lemos
- Value of PvP avatars (was: To Kill an Avatar) Richard A. Bartle
- Value of PvP avatars (was: To Kill an Avatar) Rob Lemos
- Value of PvP avatars (was: To Kill an Avatar) katie@stickydata.com
- Value of PvP avatars (was: To Kill an Avatar) Amanda Walker
- Value of PvP avatars (was: To Kill an Avatar) Marian Griffith
- Value of PvP avatars (was: To Kill an Avatar) Boyle, Paul
- Value of PvP avatars (was: To Kill an Avatar) Paul Schwanz
- Value of PvP avatars (was: To Kill an Avatar) Paul Schwanz
- Value of PvP avatars (was: To Kill an Avatar) Brendan O'Brien
- Value of PvP avatars (was: To Kill an Avatar) Ron Gabbard
- Designing Virtual Worlds Richard A. Bartle
- Designing Virtual Worlds Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Designing Virtual Worlds Jacob Cord
- Designing Virtual Worlds Richard A. Bartle
- R: Counting Massive Multi Players Ghilardi Filippo
- Thinking outside of the room . . . ur . . . box Nolan J. Darilek
- Thinking outside of the room . . . ur . . . box MIKE MacMartin
- Thinking outside of the room . . . ur . . . box Zach Collins {Siege}
- Thinking outside of the room . . . ur . . . box Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Thinking outside of the room . . . ur . . . box T. Alexander Popiel
- Crunch time Yannick Jean
- Crunch time J C Lawrence
- Crunch time Mark 'Kamikaze' Hughes
- Crunch time ceo
- Crunch time Derek Licciardi
- Crunch time Amanda Walker
- Crunch time Ben Tolputt
- Crunch time ceo
- Crunch time Amanda Walker
- Crunch time Derek Licciardi
- Crunch time Damion Schubert
- Crunch time Derek Licciardi
- Crunch time Matt Mihaly
- Crunch time Miroslav Silovic
- Crunch time Sean Kelly
- Crunch time Travis Nixon
- Crunch time Lars Duening
- Crunch time Scott Jennings
- Crunch time Matt Mihaly
- Crunch time Hartsman, Scott
- Crunch time Amanda Walker
- Crunch time Paul Schwanz
- Crunch time Jason Salem
- Crunch time Amanda Walker
- Crunch time katie@stickydata.com
- Crunch time John Buehler
- Crunch time Tamzen Cannoy
- Crunch time Mark Terrano {XBOX}
- Crunch time Brian 'Psychochild' Green
- Crunch time Amanda Walker
- Crunch time Damion Schubert
- Crunch time Sean Kelly
- Crunch time Mark Terrano {XBOX}
- Crunch time Eamonn O'Brien
- Crunch time Alex Chacha
- Identifying Players (was Counting Massive Multi Players) Crosbie Fitch