An Atlas Shrugged video game?

Posted by $ jbrenner 11 years ago to Entertainment
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In this month's issue of Reason Magazine, the cover story deals with America's addiction to video games, including more adults than ever. The most intriguing item in the story was about how an economics professor had been hired by a video game company, and the former economics professor illustrated how these multiplayer gaming environments are outstanding models of microsocieties. As several of us are talking about putting together a physical Atlantis, perhaps we could simulate the Gulch as a video game as a "dry run" before actually building Atlantis. Moreover, could you imagine the number of teenagers who would line up to watch Who is John Galt? if the video game were released just before the movie?

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  • Posted by johnpe1 11 years ago in reply to this comment.
    producers can reverse the "circles get smaller over
    time" rule, because they (we) make the pie larger!!! -- j

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  • Posted by johnpe1 11 years ago
    since BHO doesn't want to "play whack-a-mole"
    with the terrorists (the required actual international
    response to these terror-roaches), maybe we could
    work up a variant which wouldn't violate the copyrights/
    patents ... ?! -- j

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  • Posted by $ EitherOr 11 years ago in reply to this comment.
    Hi jbrenner, I've been around for a while but haven't posted in a long time. I saw your post in the daily email and decided to investigate.

    Can you elaborate on your comment? Which MMO's are you referring to?

    The MMO business model is either a monthly subscription (like World of Warcraft) or micro purchases for free-to-play games like Clash of Clans. Any background "story" for the game usually sets up some vague conflict that can exist perpetually. If an MMO were to have a real storyline with rising action, climax, and resolution then as players completed the story they would have little incentive to continue playing (i.e. paying). The company that made the game needs to pay for the servers to host the game each month.
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  • Posted by $ jbrenner 11 years ago in reply to this comment.
    I hadn't seen any of your posts before, EitherOr. Most of my gaming was back in the 1980s, although I do occasionally watch my daughter play. The MMO's that make it have a solid storyline.
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  • Posted by $ EitherOr 11 years ago in reply to this comment.
    Hi Hiraghm, I'm with you on the notepads --I even made a crude version of a trailer for my AS themed game in iMovie.

    I agree that adventure game is probably the way to go. When this topic (AS video game) came up before, I suggested a decision-based RPG along the lines of Mass Effect.
    http://www.galtsgulchonline.com/posts/9a...

    I haven't played Myst yet, but plan to start it as soon as I finish the Starcraft II campaign. I'm not sure about doing an MMO though. The MMO's I've played have almost zero story, and just feel like a place for gold/item farming with pretty graphics (most recently that is Elder Scrolls Online). Some people here are talking about making a game, and others want to create straight up propaganda. I'm on the side of game that weaves in Objectivist ideas without beating the player over the head. Bioshock did achieve that.

    As for the marketing side, indie games are growing in popularity and are easily distributable. Are you familiar with Steam's Greenlight program? There's also Kickstarter of course.

    Anyway thanks for your thoughts.
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  • Posted by Hiraghm 11 years ago
    A possible "environment" for an Objectivst video game:

    The story "And Then There Were None" deals with a imperial starship of the far future making contact with a lost civilization... a civilization of Objectivists.

    There is no money in this society, no government, none of that. People trade "Obs" or "obligations"; an example is given in the story. A crewman stocks some inventory for a store owner. The store owner gives him a note which reads "feed this bum". He takes it to the restaurant, where the owner tears it up, thus removing his own obligation to the store owner.

    The two main mottos of the story are "F-IW!" and "MYOB". The later we all know (I think), the former stands for, "Freedom! I won't!"

    The story seems to deal with just about every issue such a society can come across.

    I think a game which places the player or players in such an environment, with goals to accomplish ("quests to solve") might well work both as a game, and to disseminate Objectivism.
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  • Posted by Solver 11 years ago in reply to this comment.
    "This game [BioShock] is a true masterpiece! It is the ideal to which all past works of this type have strived to reach and to which all future ones will likewise strive to live up to! It is a truly awesome piece of propaganda against Objectivism and for statism and altruism that would have made Stalin and Beria weep with joy. Lenin himself must be wiping tears from his mummified face in his mausoleum at the sheer wonder of this game. It is so good, that not a single review has picked up on it yet! But they can be excused. Unlike me, they were not raised in the Soviet Union, and so did not have enough experience with this sort of thing. To a russian, sense of propaganda is in the blood, and so perhaps only a russian can truly appreciate Bioshock for what it is."

    I've played it. You make many choices. Not life choices, but very limited set of game theory like choices.
    It asks and masterfully sets up their own answer, do you sacrifice yourself for the greater good or not?
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  • Posted by $ jbrenner 11 years ago in reply to this comment.
    No, I hadn't heard of spring engine. I'll look into it. I don't think we have met, executor, but I am glad to meet you.
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  • Posted by executor 11 years ago
    Has anyone ever heard of spring engine? http://springrts.com/
    Its used to make Real time strategy games and could be used to create an objectivist game or a simulation of galt's gulch. I have some experience with it and its programming is easy to learn for a computer language.
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  • Posted by Jaysun 11 years ago in reply to this comment.
    Yeah that game actually got me into objectisim. As you mentioned its what could go wrong if you have 'too much' of it. Most games are better written than films now.
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  • Posted by $ jbrenner 11 years ago in reply to this comment.
    That is a question that I will have to think about more seriously. George Soros should probably be in there somewhere.
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  • Posted by Hiraghm 11 years ago
    I have a notepad (actually, several notepads) with game ideas (also story and art ideas) listed.

    I toyed with the idea of a game dealing with the themes of AS. But I never came up with a genre in which I would be comfortable exploring the themes.

    If anybody remembers the old Sierra Online, and LucasArts games, like "Day of the Tentacle" and "Full Throttle"? Or even the "Space Quest" series?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpLjf6Uy...

    I think the adventure game genre would suit itself quite well to exploring the philosophies of AS.

    I've already promoted the "Myst" series of games.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eusxaNj0...

    In fact, Myst Online: Uru is the only MMO I play anymore (at one time I was up to 9 MMOs). The Myst series is slightly steampunk-themed, and I think it is probably the ultimate expression of the adventure game genre.

    I had at one time thought of trying to turn Myst Online: Uru into a virtual Gulch, like Second Life or The Sims Online, but the solitary nature of the gameplay doesn't lend itself well to that.

    http://mystonline.com/en/

    But, if one, or a group, were to decide to develop a game around the philosophy of Objectivism, and dealing with the themes of AS, I think an MMO in the style of Uru (but with more player interaction) would be the best way to disseminate Rand's ideas.
    A single game requires people to be made aware and acquire it, which puts the burden of dissemination on the creator (kinda like having to click on my posts before you can read them... ahem...)

    But, in MMOs, not only are you exposing people to the ideas at the same time, you can expand and modify the game as you analyze player's reactions to the ideas. MMOs also tend to do well with word-of mouth, and many, if not most, are funded via in-game purchases.

    I'm happy to discuss the matter further if anyone else is still interested.
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  • Posted by iroseland 11 years ago in reply to this comment.
    Actually, as of right now its probably impossible the amount of man power required would be defeated by the numbers. I have seen what happens to a release schedule when too much man power is added in an attempt to make crunch easy, and the result has always been late..
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