Sims Online Presidential Campaign Shapes Up 212
Ant writes "Wired News has an article on a campaign for the presidency of Alphaville, the biggest city in The Sims Online. Two challengers will square off in a final primary for the opportunity to unseat Alphaville's incumbent president, the appropriately named Mr-President, in next month's general election."
Sim Reality (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Sim Reality (Score:2)
SIMS IS NOT A DEMOCRACY (Score:4, Insightful)
These games are a privledge, and if the communities are outraged about censorship, or anything else, well they should fight with their money.
Sidenote:
This may not be the case with TSO, but i've noticed in many MMORPGS (think EQ), people are so addicted to it, despite the fact they hate the company that owns it, they continue to play it.
They still piss and moan about it but they never actally cancel the game.
Maybe thats what happened here.
Re:SIMS IS NOT A DEMOCRACY (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:SIMS IS NOT A DEMOCRACY (Score:3, Interesting)
Democracy seem to be VERY entwined with free speech. The important word in the above definition is -exercised-. It is very difficult to exercise your will without a certain measure of free will, yelling fire in a crowded theater not withstanding.
Re:SIMS IS NOT A DEMOCRACY (Score:5, Insightful)
Not true. A democracy can easily become a dictatorship, a tyranny of the will of the majority over the minority. It'd be quite easy for a democracy to outlaw any speech it doesn't agree with, e.g., a fanatically religious democracy could outlaw any mention of atheism, or religions other than those approved of by the state, or any criticism of the state church.
This is why our Founding Fathers were quite careful not to choose democracy but rather a limited, Constitutional form of republicanism for their new nation. So that a rabid, banal majority couldn't legally seize control of the government and use it to cruelly oppress the minority.
Max
Re:SIMS IS NOT A DEMOCRACY (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:SIMS IS NOT A DEMOCRACY (Score:2)
Krateo: Rule
Democracy: Rule by the people
Nothing about free speech.
Yup. Democracy just describes where power resides and, to some extend, how it is exercised.
The use of "true" and "pure" in these posts is somewhat confusing. Perhaps we should adopt a piece of jargon from economics. In ecomomics, a "perfect market" IIRC is one in which every participant knows all the prices at which goods are available. For instance, a supplier can charge higher prices when buyers are unaware of an altern
Re:SIMS IS NOT A DEMOCRACY (Score:1)
Re:SIMS IS NOT A DEMOCRACY (Score:1)
Democracy & Free Speech (Score:5, Insightful)
If you can't speak freely, you can't expect to exchange information regarding the government - which means you're not able to freely cast an informed VOTE... in which case you have a sham democracy. QED.
Re:Democracy & Free Speech (Score:5, Insightful)
The United States, for example, has had to find ways to cut into political speech because it is possible to hijack it with access to media. That is, rich and poor were all allowed to speak, but the rich seemed to speak louder.
(The poor sometimes got together to form "unions" to speak with a loud, united voice, but that, too, got hijacked by corrupt people, which cast an unpleasant pall over the entire concept, even when it's still executed well.)
It appears that laws are never able to make a truly level, fair playing field, and therefore any democracy is going to be slanted one way or the other. The fact is you're still allowed to say whatever you want, but the louder you speak, the more likely it is the law will intervene. The laws are an unpleasant compromise.
Re:Democracy & Free Speech (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Democracy & Free Speech (Score:2)
Or slaves.
Or those without land.
Or children.
"Democracy" has always defined "demos" a bit less generally than I'd like.
Re:Democracy & Free Speech (Score:3, Insightful)
The definition of democracy has changed since 1776. It is essential to understand the distinction between representative and true democracy if you are going to read the Federalist P
Re:Democracy & Free Speech (Score:3, Informative)
You can blather on and on about whatever you want, easily enough. Go stand on the corner of a street, or write your own publication, edit it on your own, print it on your own, and yor speech is as free as it can be, but nobody has to listen.
Just as you're handing out your newsletter, some people may take it and read it, and maybe take it to heart. Some might take it--take it home and use it to line their birdcage witho
Conclusion--humans suck (Score:2)
Re:Democracy & Free Speech (Score:2)
Re:Democracy & Free Speech (Score:5, Interesting)
While it is true that CA, NY, FL, etc. have a large number of electoral votes, it is actually the voters in the small states who have a greater influence. Even the Wyoming has only 3 electoral votes and California has 52, individuals in Wyoming have a great "share" of an electoral vote.
3 electoral votes divided by poplulation of Wyoming, is greater than 52 electoral votes divided by the population of California.
It would be interesting to see in which state voters have the greatest influence.
provolt
Re:Democracy & Free Speech (Score:2)
Yes, assuming populations haven't shifted too much since the census, the voters in Wyoming theoretically have more influence than those in California, because each state gets a number of electoral votes proportional to their population, and then 2 more.
But that's theoretically. In reality, if there is a voter out there in Wyoming debating which way to vote, he can rest assured that it doesn't matter. His vote means nothing. In the upcoming election, Wyoming is going to go Republican (or at least, I'll
Re:Democracy & Free Speech (Score:4, Interesting)
Parent is right in that less populated states have (in theory) proportionally less electoral votes, in an effort to make every America have an equal state size:electoral vote ration. Grandparent is right in that it is technically still unequal. All states with 2 electoral votes (the minimum) do not have equal populations, this there IS discrepency in the voter:electoral vote ratio.
But it's all semantics. If I had to go with 1, I'd say the parent is more right. Electoral votes are (in theory) proportional to state population size.
Re:Democracy & Free Speech (Score:2)
i love when people's comebacks are grammar errors or semantics like my error.
The lowest # electoral votes being "3" and not "2" does NOT change the IDEA of my argument ("fucktard..."). What, do you expect california to get 55 votes and Wyoming to get 0.2 votes, Rhode Island 0.3, etc? That's the stupidest thing I have ever heard.
"Doing the math" makes no difference. I acknowledg
Re:Democracy & Free Speech (Score:2)
Individual votes matter the most in city elections. Vote for city officials often enough and your vote will probably eventually m
Re:SIMS IS NOT A DEMOCRACY (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:SIMS IS NOT A DEMOCRACY (Score:2, Interesting)
Has the "civilized" world been democratic in the 1800s, when only white male were allowed to vote in most places?
So, what exactly is a democracy?
US Goverment != Democracy (Score:5, Informative)
The US government is a REPUBLIC [reference.com], meaning that, instead of having authority given directly to the public, authority is given to a select few, who in turn run the government.
In that way the American government is more modeled after Rome than it is Greece. But still, the constitution divides power between three branches of government, and with the separation of powers implied in the constitution, this allows for a sufficient security against one major voice rising up to silence the others.
A little OT I think it is funny how Republicans are crying that the courts are acting out of line, in regards to homosexual marriage when, in reality, the courts are just doing its job.
I also find it hilarious, and also striking that people dismay the courts because they are "un elected". IMO, that is the great strength of the courts and ESSIENTIAL to the balance of powers in the federal government. We need some branch of the government that is separated somewhat from the consent political, partisan bickering that the other two branches engage in daily.
Re:US Goverment != Democracy (Score:2)
Re:US Goverment != Democracy (Score:3, Informative)
Rebublic has exactly the same meaning with democracy, the former coming from the Latin word for democracy and the latter from the Greek.
The two concepts you seem to want to present are those of "direct democracy" and "representative democracy."
The reason why your US forefathers equated "direct democracy" to mob rule was because like all politicians they abhorred the concept of anyone and everyone having a say and a system that would enable them to follow their words through.
Re:US Goverment != Democracy (Score:3, Informative)
Republic [wikipedia.org] is derived from the latin word "public affair" whereas Democracy [wikipedia.org] comes from the greek meaning "rule by the people". I'm not sure how you think the two mean exactly the same thing.
Re:US Goverment != Democracy (Score:2, Interesting)
We need some branch of the government that is separated somewhat from the consent political, partisan bickering that the other two branches engage in daily.
I know that was a typo, but it's an interesting one because as I'm sure you know, judicial nominees (at the federal level) do need to be given consent from the Senate, which brings the political, partisan bickering directly back in. Since they are also appointed by perhaps THE most political figure in the country, the president, and almost always app
Re:SIMS IS NOT A DEMOCRACY (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:SIMS IS NOT A DEMOCRACY (Score:4, Informative)
The "president of congress" is not the "president". If you watch C-SPAN sometime, you will notice that people keep on talking to "Mr. President", asking for more time for their speech, or to hold some vote, or for a quorum call, or who knows what else; Bush is not in the room at the time.
Re:SIMS IS NOT A DEMOCRACY (Score:2)
No MMOG is a "privilege" (Score:5, Informative)
That is the fallacy of MMOGs. The companies that run the MMOGs treat their customers like it is a privilege to get to play their game. And sadly, the players/customers routinely take it in the ass with a confused smile on their face.
For example, go to any popular MMOG forum and take note of the excessive complaining about all manner of game dynamics and routines. Most of the time, the people complaining would just like the game to be changed in some way, and these feelings are usually shared by the majority. Nevertheless, the most popular retort to any such complaint is something akin to "well it is Square's game, and if you don't like it than you don't have to play!". The extremely sad thing is, is that as customers you should expect a company to improve its product to the majority's wishes, and to fix bugs in a timely fashion, etc. But since such a huge user-base of customers without any self-worth exists, the MMOG companies continue to run their shops the way they do: with a complete disregard for customer satisfaction and product quality.
Customer Service vs Consumerism (Score:3, Interesting)
However, at the point where Square/Enix chooses to ignore a customer complaint, it is that customer's choice at that point whether they wish to accept those terms of service. Unlike the phone company, The Sims Online is not a monopoly. If the customer doesn't like the product/service,
Re:No MMOG is a "privilege" (Score:2)
The problem with all the complaining is that I would say a fair share of it is the "I want to be the most powerful god-like character" or "How dare such and such got changed, now I need to get XYZ to be just as powerful?" It's a cyclical thing too in that once one class of players is satisified, another group complains that they didn't get any improvements. There's always that amount of complaining and when the players are always online, they have plenty of time to complain. Look at the Battle.net forums
Re:No MMOG is a "privilege" (Score:2)
Majority of the forum posters, perhaps, but not necessarily a majority of the customer base. Only a small fraction of any game's customer base are regular forum posters, and that small fraction tends to be the loudest/whiniest.
Re:No MMOG is a "privilege" (Score:2)
Eh? Privilege? When did this enter into the matter at all?
The operation of these online games is governed by straight contract law. Each party has rights and obligations under the law. Each party gets something of presumed value out of the transaction. I get to play the game for entertainment, Square gets some of my real-world money. N
Re:No MMOG is a "privilege" (Score:2)
I'm sure many ppl on here have been involved in multiplayer worlds of some sort. I am a wizard on a classic LP-MUD. Often times the "majority" of the players do want the same things. However, there are often reasons why those things would be bad for the game and/or game company.
For instance, I'd bet most players in the Sims would like for their jobs to pa
Sony Online are actually excellent at this (Score:2)
Every month or so, there comes a patch which tweaks the game a little bit, adds something, modifies some stats, etc. Sony people are following the forums and listening to what people think about the game.
At one time they even restructured their entire server farm to accommodate a common desire (they merged the population of several servers to increase player density). This is not a small effort.
I like that. They really do listen to customer
Re:No MMOG is a "privilege" (Score:2)
Ok, but you would say that only the opinions that are a majority count. How do you know it is a majority? These are people who actually use the forum, all the people who don't have a problem are playing the game and aren't voicing their opinion.
The people
I'm surprised this even made Wired. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:I'm surprised this even made Wired. (Score:5, Funny)
Yes. [nt] (Score:1)
Given previous stories about Alphaville... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Given previous stories about Alphaville... (Score:1)
wha? (Score:3, Interesting)
Maybe i'm just as lcued in on the 'online pretend simulated people type thing"
And somehow i'll still be interested on seeing who wins!
oi
SOCOM President (Score:4, Funny)
Re:SOCOM President (Score:4, Funny)
Only two parties? (Score:5, Insightful)
Art imitates life, I guess.
Re:Only two parties? (Score:2)
Matt Fahrenbacher
Participation. (Score:5, Funny)
Sigh.
--saint
how so? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:how so? (Score:2)
If so, I'm hoping they do the papertrail work. No reason not to.
Post election (Score:2)
Re:Participation. (Score:2)
It's the truth.
Re:Participation. (Score:2)
Excellent (Score:5, Funny)
Forget the Sims - who's President of the Internet! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Forget the Sims - who's President of the Intern (Score:4, Funny)
President of the Internet [xmission.com]
Re:Forget the Sims - who's President of the Intern (Score:2)
Re:Forget the Sims - who's President of the Intern (Score:2)
Are you that ignorant [snopes.com] or are you just trying to be funny?
Re:Forget the Sims - who's President of the Intern (Score:2)
Wait... (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Wait... (Score:5, Funny)
SimCity (Score:5, Funny)
Re:SimCity (Score:5, Interesting)
I thought about this as well... (Score:2, Interesting)
Anyway, there is a game that did actually go to the next step - Savage - The Battle for Newerth [s2games.com] or something like that. It has a real time strategy component (i.e. the leader) as well as everyone else is in the fps/3rd person (depending on the weapon choice).
Maybe someone could make a ga
Good idea.. (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Good idea.. (Score:2)
Re:Good idea.. (Score:2)
Slice City: SimCity within The Sims (Score:2)
http://www.simslice.com/Slicecity.htm [simslice.com]
The Power Plant is the buyable object -- click here to see a pic [simslice.com]. Place it anywhere on your lot. That starts the game. Only buy one per lot for best gameplay. If this is your first time here, please read everything below carefully. Otherwise you can click here for some Slice City Gameplay Tips [simslice.com].
Slice City - "the other city that never sleeps". This city is awake and alive with hustle and bustle 24/7
Re:SimCity (Score:3, Informative)
Discrimination (Score:5, Funny)
They should also probably have a Commodore 64 version, but one injustice at a time.
Re:Discrimination (Score:2)
Re:Discrimination (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Discrimination (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Discrimination (Score:2)
Re:Discrimination (Score:2)
Need a (real) life (Score:3, Interesting)
They are JUST games people....
What do you expect them to do in a LIFE SIMULATOR? (Score:3, Insightful)
Not everyone likes short games for lazy people with an attention span of... hey, look! Some dirt! Yum!
Besides, if real life is so good, why is everyone trying to get away from it?
Re:Need a (real) life (Score:2)
Re:Need a (real) life (Score:2)
Yeah, but who counts the votes? (Score:5, Funny)
Never mind, go ahead and fix it like a game show.
Sims question (Score:4, Funny)
Hmmmm (Score:2, Funny)
Is this newsworthy? (Score:5, Insightful)
This "Government" appears to have no control other than through the actions of 100 or so voluntary members who have no more power than a normal player. Using this election as a case study of such small, self-policing authorities is valid, but it has no more authenticity than the politics 10 year-old's Secret Agents club.
Re:Is this newsworthy? (Score:5, Interesting)
First, why has a significant portion of TSO (or any other online game) gravitated toward general elections? I know when I play games (and I rarely do), that one of the first things I try to do is find the bounds of the game. I try to shoot my team memebers, or drive through the buildings, or contruct buildings that spell out my name. I haven't played The Sims, but if I did, I would probably try to randomly attack someone, or see if they'll have sex with one another. And I think that's human nature -- to experiment.
So why is it that the players discussed in this article are trying to graft the rules of our "the real world" onto a game? Is it experimentation? Have these players become bored with toying with the absurd limits of the game and are instead interested in finding the practical limits?
Or are people trying this out of a feeling of detachment from the real world? Are people so frustrated with the current state of affairs that they are trying to establish a utopia of sorts in their online world?
Is this a case of politically-minded people asserting themselves on an online world? And if so, are they politcal rejects (or the politically inexperienced) that would not otherwise flourish in the real world? And if either of those is the case, what of the participants of these elections? Can you then say that some people are comfortable plugging in to "the system?"
I could go on and on. It's these questions that make me want to take a few psych classes. And it's these questions that prevent me from enjoying gaming. I can't help but analyze my every move. And by that time, my city has crumbled, or someone has shot me, or my unit has been outflanked. Kind of annoying!
RTFA (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Is this newsworthy? (Score:3, Interesting)
There's no killing as such, or death. When I last played it they were talking about introducing trading (so one player could give things to another) but no idea if it ever came off. They *had* to do something to break the 'make gnome sell gnome' cycle or otherwise there wouldn't be any players left by now.
Alphaville has actually m
scr00 (Score:5, Funny)
Who trusts computer voting system results? (Score:5, Funny)
At least the Alphaville ones probably weren't designed by Diebold.
Re:Who trusts computer voting system results? (Score:2)
did you hear the canidates' debate? (Score:5, Funny)
Negative campaigning... (Score:5, Funny)
The Question here is.... (Score:5, Funny)
Will the arise of virtual nation states become the same quagmiritic mess of so-called diplomatic relations that exists in the real world today?
If so, then will these diplomatic relations between online communities breakdown and become virtual online hostilities?
Should all of this happen, I'd put my money on Everquest kicking the shit out of Sims Online, using the simoleans to bloat an ever increasing warchest, turning the peoples of Alphaville into nothing but a nation of slaves used for bizzare Orcish sexual practices, and rolling on to conquer even more virtual online lands.
Even after conquering the majority of the internets online lands, The majority of our new internet masters will still remain savagely unlaid.
(I'm very aware that I used the word "faux," and I'm not sorry for it.
Nor am I sorry for the cheap shot I took at Everquest players.)
I've already seen the movie. (Score:3, Interesting)
Ashley Wins Primary! (Score:2, Interesting)
I hope that the thousands of regular TSO players who are old enough to vote come out of this simulated fun-fest long enough to help decide issues in the real world. Then again, looking at some recent election results, I guess virtual reality already has too much influence.
Re:Seriously, this isn't offtopic or trollbait.... (Score:2, Informative)
"Baynes has effectively been the standard-bearer of the so-called Alphaville Government, which has no official power"