[jeezlouise]

*NERD ALERT*

Has anyone ever seen this little computer game called "UnReal World"?

URW

It's supposed to take place "ages ago" in the far north... but what it is to me is a fairly rough estimation of what life could be like well after peak, say 100 years or so... it's a simulation that thrusts you into the wilderness at first with a minimum of supplies and you must forage for food, hunt a wide variety of animals, find water, build shelter, build fire, etc. and eventually find a small town to stay in and live amongst people (if you so desire). It's extremely detailed, there are weather and seasonal changes, one can fish, explore caves, travel across vast stretches of wilderness, employ help, cook, barter, build a cabin, climb a tree to see further into the distance... it's totally non-linear, and the maps and hundreds of objects randomize each time you play. Anyway it is a great tool to explore ideas about low-tech life and to see how you might fare if you suddenly found yourself in a life or death survival situation.

[Doly]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jeezlouise', 'A')nyway it is a great tool to explore ideas about low-tech life and to see how you might fare if you suddenly found yourself in a life or death survival situation.

[Chaparral]

The urban resident may want to dispense with the computer simulations and electronic widgets and simply find a local bird watching area/wildlife sanctuary/wilderness park as removed from the noise and chemical residue of civilization as possible. Just go there and sit quietly with no cell phones, newspapers or books. You will start noticing things. Go there at different times of day; dawn, midmorning, afternoon, dusk, nighttime if safely possible. A little of this and your senses grow sharper and you notice an order of magnitude more things than you ever thought possible. Those elusive and mysterious plants and animals which may be neccessary for one's survival later on suddenly become a little bit less elusive and a little bit less mysterious.

[jeezlouise]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Doly', 'A')nd how about exploring ideas about how to survive, not 100 years post peak, but 5 years post peak? I find that a lot more practical.

[PrairieMule]

JL-Thanks for the links very interesting. I have to side with Chapparal everyone needs to unplug from the computer/game system and get there hands dirty. I got rid of my Xbox last month and I was quite surprised on how much time I wasted every week. Now I walk the dog 2 miles every night, hit the gym 4 times a week, go to the gun range Saturday afternoon, and my lawn looks better.

[jeezlouise]

... I did give a Nerd Alert, didn't I?!? Heh, anyways I totally agree with the both of yous.. I started a new compost pile yesterday, my zucchini is sprouting, and the rainwater catchment system is nearing completion.. I find these things much more reassuring than a game I used to play 10 years ago.

[birchm]

Somehow I think the Fallout Series would be a much more appropriate description of what future life might be like what with the US planning to attack Iran and all.

[gg3]

What I would find interesting is a more oldschool role-play of some kind where players can set up multiple characters and interact in a specific scenario. This would be conducted primarily as a text exercise, with supporting visuals in the form of still pictures that show landscapes, maps, and various features.

Possible starting points for scenarios:

- Neighbors living in a city.
- Sustainable rural community.
- Small town.
- Military strategy & tactics.
- Corporations in various sectors of the economy.
- Elected officials in a parliamentary democracy.
- Geopolitics: countries on the world map.

Possible scenarios:

- Various time-orderings of events such as pandemic, PO, and climate impacts: how do things change when the order of these events changes?

- Various degrees and time-rates of decline & change: slow/hard, fast/hard, slow/soft, and fast/soft.

--

Now as it turns out, one of my clients is a company that runs a very popular virtual reality site, and I know the folks there pretty well. Another of my clients is a subsidiary of a major game producer whose titles include a few that are iconically famous. Another, who we just picked up, does brand-related creative work for companies that are household brands. Our company can handle coding & ongoing maintenance, and provide free hosting & bandwidth, so perhaps what we're looking for from the others is more like creative input to the design of the site and the game structures. I'm thinking about sending out email to see if one or more of them would be interested in collaborating on this.

The technology for this should be fairly simple, basically it's turn-of-the-century web design but the look & feel are important. The point of the exercise is not to come up with something visually flashy, but something that would enable people to play out scenarios according to agreed rule-sets, and see where they go. We would also be able to collect data from the ongoing interactions, and analyze to see if there's anything we can learn about what's likely to come up if these scenarios occur.

Feedback, anyone?

[Zantarra]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('birchm', 'S')omehow I think the Fallout Series would be a much more appropriate description of what future life might be like what with the US planning to attack Iran and all.

[ThePostman]

Sounds cool, thanks for the head's up. I've been looking for a decent non-linear, post apocolyptic type simulation (ala, Fallout).

Oh, I rode the bus today for the first time in 25 years. And I survived! Pretty convenient not having to battle for downtown parking...

[Carrie]

Ok, I admit, I'm a nerd.
If we're talking about games that are peak-oil related, you might want a heads up on this one:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'F')rontlines: Fuel of War is an open world, infantry- and vehicle-based FPS (First Person Shooter) featuring advanced next-gen weaponry in a desperate, near future setting where controlling the planet's depleting fossil resources determines the ultimate fate of civilization. A global war for oil is being waged between two superpowers, the Western Coalition (US/EU) and the Red Star Alliance (Russia/China), and players will be instrumental in determining how the war is waged -- and won. The single player campaign will focus on this powerful storyline as players' execute missions focused on non-linear gameplay, moving their frontline through enemy held territory.