A Kit for New Sims?

[Jon Seattle]

These are the thoughts of a new (though enthusiastic) neube, for please forgive if I am treading on well-discussed topics. These days, I have been exploring the various, often small, sacred places in SL. Really, there are some beautiful spots in SL that are clearly works of heart.

It seems to me that one way to grow more democratic communities in SL is to help form and offer a hand to groups of artists and designers. That is artist colonies. Artists and designers have more of a reason to form democratic groups - after all they come to SL more to create than to shop. And sometimes they want to get together to build things that are not for market.

This could be a factor in proposals for new sims. Why would a designer want to join? I think for most designers (who can market at higher altitudes or elsewhere), having significant public space and a pleasant visual environment is very important. Also important is having significant opportunities to evolve that shared space and a community who share some of the same creative goals and process.

One component of this might be a reusable kit for starting a new community. "NB in a box." This would include a model constitution, city planning maps, covenants, and conflict resolution techniques, along with an open-source software package.

The software would consist of a well developed off-game web application and a collection of SL language scripts. The software would provide voting and faction registration, keep a record of deliberation and legislation, track land ownership and fees, and provide forum and wiki space. Town hall in a box! The point is to make forming and running a new democratic sim less of an organizational hassle.

One place to look for some software we might build on might be to examine existing software packages for running democratic groups via the web.

Groups of artisans might want to take this and change it in various ways. (In fact, it might be designed to allow evolution.) Some people might take such a package and create communities that are quitw different from NB. Things that we might disapprove of. Such is democracy. But it might help spread the idea that there is an alternative to having absolutely everything run through the market.

[Traxx Hathor]

[quote="Jon Seattle":3vchy4t4]
It seems to me that one way to grow more democratic communities in SL is to help form and offer a hand to groups of artists and designers. That is artist colonies. Artists and designers have more of a reason to form democratic groups - after all they come to SL more to create than to shop. And sometimes they want to get together to build things that are not for market.

This could be a factor in proposals for new sims. Why would a designer want to join? I think for most designers (who can market at higher altitudes or elsewhere), having significant public space and a pleasant visual environment is very important. Also important is having significant opportunities to evolve that shared space and a community who share some of the same creative goals and process.

One component of this might be a reusable kit for starting a new community. "NB in a box." This would include a model constitution, city planning maps, covenants, and conflict resolution techniques, along with an open-source software package.

The software would consist of a well developed off-game web application and a collection of SL language scripts. The software would provide voting and faction registration, keep a record of deliberation and legislation, track land ownership and fees, and provide forum and wiki space. Town hall in a box! The point is to make forming and running a new democratic sim less of an organizational hassle.
[/quote:3vchy4t4]

An engaging idea. But would artists embrace bureaucracy? I'm a techie myself, but I've just finished a full sim development job as team lead with the RFyre group. That group certainly qualifies as an artists colony, and several members contributed very creative work on the sim. It's definitely not a group looking for a more structured existence!

Obviously there's much more to Neualt than bureaucracy. Personally I find the problemsolving aspect very interesting. But Neualt is not a theoretical exercise; it requires steady volunteer work if the institutions are to perform their intended functions.

That said, I like your townhall in a box idea. : )

Have you read the Law Society group forum on the SL website? Frank Lardner set up the forum as a research resource for documents, discussions and case studies on sim governance and related topics in SL. He felt that a research resource like that would allow a new group to pick and choose tools appropriate to their project. Actually getting the open source software you describe would be an amazing resource for a new group whether or not it's an artist colony.

[Pelanor Eldrich]

I had proposed the ability to form franchulates of NB. The franchise owner might get a townhall in a box. When the franchulate decides to move away from the NB structure it could be granted full independence.

I like the idea of townhall in a box to get this started.

[Traxx Hathor]

[quote="Pelanor Eldrich":3fpcdpj1]I had proposed the ability to form franchulates of NB. The franchise owner might get a townhall in a box.[/quote:3fpcdpj1]

What exactly is a franchulate, Pelanor? Rights? Obligations? Fees?

The proposed townhall in a box software is certainly valuable. What does the core city of Neualt get in return...or does this question sound like I've missed the point? : P

[Pelanor Eldrich]

Franchulates are an idea from the sci-fi novel Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. Much of the Linden vision of SL derives from this novel. The term franchulate describes a cross between a quasi-nation/state and a franchise. If you can imagine a world with little/no central gov't and massive privatization you get franchulates. When you walk into one of hundreds of "Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kong". Like non-contiguous Swiss Cantons meets KFC, you get the same services, benefits and obligations. Usually they look identical as well and there is typically a headquarters. In this respect it's a federation of fairly identical nation states.

A franchulate could break ties with the parent and declare independence and modifying it's gov't strucutre. Jon's idea is a generic democratic "Resident-Run Gov't Townhall Tools in a Box", not necessarily a NB franchulate. It is an interesting idea.