So reading all this has led me to think a lot about using MMOs as a testing ground for sociology, and vague disappointment that apart from corporate takeovers in EVE Online, there’s not a whole lot of MMOs that are really complex/realistic enough to test, say, governance systems that are relevant to the real world.
EVE seems designed around a mix of corporate guild structure and “colloquial ‘MMO for-fun’ guild structure.” People don’t seem to invent governments that are aiming to solve the sort of problems that real-world governments are trying to solve. (there’s not as much point in keeping the peace if killing each other is part of the point of the game)
What properties does a game need to have to sufficiently reflect real life that you actually have to solve the same problems?
[hmm – fake edit: apparently EVE has an in game democratically elected council whose job is to interface between the players and the company that makes EVE. Which does make sense and is interesting but isn’t quite the thing I’m looking for here]
I feel like Minecraft is pretty close here.
I’d like to see a massively multiplayer Minecraft taking place on a roughly earth-sized world, with some tweaks to shift it it a bit towards a combo of “realism” and “able to build things that take some effort to destroy.”
reading all this has led me to think a lot about using MMOs as a testing ground for sociology
i think you are on the right track—a google scholar search reveals an enormous amount of social science conducted on virtual worlds including topics like teamwork, economics, and religion. don’t know about governance systems though.
So reading all this has led me to think a lot about using MMOs as a testing ground for sociology, and vague disappointment that apart from corporate takeovers in EVE Online, there’s not a whole lot of MMOs that are really complex/realistic enough to test, say, governance systems that are relevant to the real world.
EVE seems designed around a mix of corporate guild structure and “colloquial ‘MMO for-fun’ guild structure.” People don’t seem to invent governments that are aiming to solve the sort of problems that real-world governments are trying to solve. (there’s not as much point in keeping the peace if killing each other is part of the point of the game)
What properties does a game need to have to sufficiently reflect real life that you actually have to solve the same problems?
[hmm – fake edit: apparently EVE has an in game democratically elected council whose job is to interface between the players and the company that makes EVE. Which does make sense and is interesting but isn’t quite the thing I’m looking for here]
I feel like Minecraft is pretty close here.
I’d like to see a massively multiplayer Minecraft taking place on a roughly earth-sized world, with some tweaks to shift it it a bit towards a combo of “realism” and “able to build things that take some effort to destroy.”
i think you are on the right track—a google scholar search reveals an enormous amount of social science conducted on virtual worlds including topics like teamwork, economics, and religion. don’t know about governance systems though.