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agoraXchange
by Jeremy at 5:30 pm EST, Dec 23, 2003

The goal is global participation in creating a world where political institutions no longer perpetuate war and inequality.
agoraXchange will serve as a dynamic repository, soliciting and displaying contributions, suggestions, and collaborations that will be used to design a massive, multiplayer online game world simulating an alternative to the present global order.
While the game design and most game rules will be provided by participants of agoraXchange, all proposals must accommodate four initial decrees challenging present conventions for awarding nationality and wealth.
agoraXchange will create an environment for participants to exchange ideas and work together on the rules, design, and the code to be used in building the game. Participation will be facilitated by techniques used in other successful large-scale online distributed collaborations, ranging from the open source software movement to self-regulating, peer-to-peer discussion groups.

Rather than offering criticism of the world as it is, agoraXchange aims to create new possibilities.

The site goes live on January 14. Are you in?

RE: agoraXchange
by Decius at 1:36 pm EST, Dec 24, 2003

Jeremy wrote:
] The site goes live on January 14. Are you in?

Probably not. It seems far too political to be of use. If it was a free for all simulation, with the best designs winning, base on some desired outcomes (like peace, or a certain base standard of living), it would be interesting. But it isn't. Its pre-primed with a political agenda. Four radical rules are provided which every model must obey. They are searching for a system which obeys their rules and still manages to work. At the end they'll uphold it as proof that their rules are right. These rules are an unusual mix of thought from the left and the libertarians. (Absolute free trade, but the state owns all the land. This almost seems an oxymoron.) It might almost be interesting, but these ideas are not defended with the cool calculations of a sociologist but with the fire of an activist. Words like "in contradiction with liberal democratic sloganeering" seem to boil with hate, to say nothing of how complex questions about life insurance and stock ownership factor into their simple notion of a 100% estate tax. Basically, I'm not sold.