Tree Of Life

This is a Game, a Live Action Role Playing game. Implementing the rules of this game will instantiate a SelfOrganizing system that will create the GlassBeadGame.

A game consists of a set of Rules played over time. This is a Worldchanging game, one is encouraged to affect the world without leaving any fingerprints. You will be exchanging ideas and action, creating value and knowledge in the process. It is an Infinite Game, like the Cosmos itself with YOU as the light in the middle.

Anyone can play and everyone starts equal. Corked walls serve as a playing Board.

The Objective of the Game is to maximize value-creation through creative collaboration and exchange. You have both this Board and [the World] to achieve it.

On the Board, one places Nodes: either People or Ideas. Position on the Board is not meant to confer a particular axis or orientation. These form the main pieces in the Game. Adding nodes earns credits, so post meaningful items you can’t act upon. See Initialization

The act of creating a Person-Node for yourself and posting it to the Board makes you a Player. Earn a credit by placing a tally behind your name. You’ll be able to use these credits to motivate others on tasks.

Player-nodes are LIVE. They exert Influence and earn Reputation; otherwise, unclaimed, a Node simply accumulates Wealth. See Interactions

One can attach colored Tags to Nodes. These are keywords that create a de facto grouping. Use different colors for different Tags. A Node can have more than one tag.

=== Interactions ===

Note: Node "effects" are Not Yet Implemented -- do what you can in the paper version (see software notes below).

Nodes can accumulate Votes. You can vote up ↑ or down ↓. These actions count as Work; keep a tally for yourself with each vote and conceal it behind your Name. Votes affect Node radius and thereby, prominence.

You can also Link to other Nodes. This associates your Reputation to a vote (+ or -), putting a charge on the Item equivalent in force to the Vote-tally behind your Name. This affects Node clustering through attraction and repulsion. Move nodes together or apart.

Grouping forms the “vertical” component of the Network. A Group is a collection of Nodes with a Name. You can Cluster or Divide nodes/items, forming more abstract or more concrete nodes, respectively. This is called [encapsulation] and affects energy flow through the network. See Scoring (Not written here... send email when your board gets to this point.)

=== Off-Board Interactions ===

Off-board interactions encourage the use of color to make your desires stand out.

Quests: A Quest is something that takes you outside the Game Board. This game generates new value through the reciprocation of Offers/Wishes. It works like this: post an Offer→ such as Make seed bombs: 5 →credits each; then, to the Player who completes the Quest, write the number of earned credits on the back of your offer and give it to them, but take no corresponding debit. This is not cheating -- you have just generated real currency! Yay!

Complementary to Quests, there is Trade. A Trade is a conversion from the physical world of objects into the Game. You can place a wish←, for example: couch: 100← credits. You receive the physical couch and give 100 credits to the other Player. Deduct 100 credits from your own tally.

Keep in mind that the credibility of an offer is directly connected to your Reputation; i.e., your ability to play by the Rules and within the Spirit of the Game. “Gaming the system” eventually creates conflict, eliminates your credibility while adversely affecting the stability of the whole system: don't succumb. It is advised to only offer or request as much as you have earned in your Score – this ensures that your risk is proportional to your experience or “state of play”.

As a final hint: It's an Infinite Game: think Eternally. Remember the world is your wiki…. :^)

....otherwise Welcome to the Game! Post feedback to <pangaia-love@googlegroups.com>!

============================= Initialization ==================================

To seed this process, this Game starts with these Primordial forces:

The simple act of posting a meaningful Item earns 1 point -- this includes the creation and posting of your own Player Node. Removing a Node also earns a point – IF no one puts it back. (Paper-version only) Keep removed nodes in a marked bin next to the board. Posting a Name other than your own is an example of an Offer→. Receive no points -- this is a type of Gift. When the Person accepts the Invitation, they collect the single Credit implicit in the Offer and become a Player. Posting a ←Wish, collect no point. Give a point, if someone fulfills it (and deduct from your own credit).

Note: Items no longer in play should be placed in History. This could be behind other pieces or in a separate bin as noted above.

[End Game]

-- Tron

Notes for software implementors: This document is pretty much a complete specification that one should easily be able translate into (Processing or VPython) code. Post implementations to http://github.com/theProphet/Social-Garden. Whoever gets a decent prototype gets to jumpstart a new economic paradigm and start OpenSourceCulture! See the pangaia.sourceforge.net wiki and the WikiWikiWeb.

Does it have to be Processing or VPython?

The Tree of Life is an implementation of the GlassBeadGame alluded to in HermannHesse. It is an evolution of the WikiWay to its ultimate end-point - a giant, thriving community of interaction growing towards the boundless Infinite.

LikePage: AlchemyOfWiki