So I got back from Burning Man a week ago, and have been haunted by the sad fact that this event lasts just one week of a year, and then I have to spend the other fifty-one weeks living the standard life. The life where conversations with strangers are seldom worthwhile, and the unspoken advice is to mind your own business and get back to work.
I'm not going to explain to you what was so great about Burning Man. I'm not even going to explain the basics of what it is. Go Google around, and you'll figure that out. However, we will run a simulation of some of the social aspects of this event.
This won't really be a proper contest. Sure, somebody will win and get a prize, and other people will get some rank points--just like we usually do. But the rules that define how one wins will not be posted. Let's just call this our Official
Experience (not Contest) for September. We've already had quite a few competitive challenges spring up unofficially this month. And of course, the
Snakes! ...to the Death contest has run deep into the next month. So I feel the hardcore contestgoers taste for competition has been met. Let's swing back in the other direction, and try something less structured and more playful.
Picture, in your mind, the dusty expanse of a dried-out lakebed. It would be empty and lifeless, except that you and a bunch of other people drove in with vehicles packed full of tents, geodesic domes, bubble machines, lasers, solar panels, and Gatorade. There will be nothing here before you come. There will be nothing here after you leave.
What Are You Bringing With You?
Before Virtual Burning Man starts, you have to submit a list of items what you will bring to it. I am going to give you a complete waiver on anything survival-related. Let's just say you automatically brought everything needed to sustain a certain level of comfort and civilization amidst the ruthless heat and duststorms, i.e. sunscreen, toilet paper, fruit rollups, and 7 pairs of clean underwear. What you need at Virtual Burning Man, is some kind of gimmick to bring people to your campsite. You could be a fortune-teller, for example, but to do it in style, you might want to add "
a glass sphere, 8 inches in diameter"
to your initial inventory, and perhaps more mundanely, "
a table, a tablecloth, two chairs"
.
* You can bring a maximum of 30 items.
* Again, don't worry about the boring basics of survival and comfort. Bring items that will be used to present an attraction or spectacle.
* You can bring containers or sets, i.e. "
a pirate chest"
or "
a set of diningware"
, but later descriptions after Virtual Burning Man starts that are based on the inventory shouldn't depend on further invention of individual items, i.e. "
a rusty anchor from the pirate chest"
or "
an Elvis Presley collector's plate, signed by the man himself"
.
* Your complete list of items to bring should be posted as a reply in the
Campsite Topic no later than:
Local Time:09-25-2006 at 01:00 AM
* Everyone's lists of items (including yours) posted in the
Campsite Topic will be visible to all. In other words, to those familiar with our forum terminology, this isn't a submission topic.
* You can't change your list after Virtual Burning Man starts with the exception of trades and gifting, the process of which is described below.
* All items must be something which could exist in the real world and are realistically transportable to a desert lakebed. I.e. "
My cloak of invisibility"
<
- No. "
My camoflauge cloak"
<
- Yes. "
Two humpback whales"
<
- No. "
Two humpback whales. One 100,000 gallon, saltwater tank"
<
- Yes. (Okay, you could bring the two humpback whales without the tank full of water, but then you might as well say "
Two humpback whale carcasses"
.)
* You can bring any quantity of one item, i.e. "
10,000 bananas"
, and that counts as just one item towards your 30-item inventory limit.
* You are allowed an automatic supply of tools and devices needed to manipulate your items, (i.e. hammers, cranes, bulldozers) which don't need to be specified in your inventory. However, none of these tools or devices should be present in the descriptions you make of your campsite later, i.e. "
My campsite is surrounded by a concentric ring of nailguns mounted such that they all point at a chair in the center."
If you intend the tools to be part of the finished product, then they must be specified in your inventory.
* It is also suggested that you not take the automatic supply of tools to its logical extreme by bringing huge quantities of raw materials, i.e. iron, wood, silicon, etc. to construct whatever item you wish. I'm not going to make any rules here, because of the problems drawing an exact line. I just point out that the game will be more fun if you don't play it in "
god mode"
.
* Your post in the
Campsite Topic may be edited at any time to include the name of your campsite and a 100-words-or-less advertisement for it. These may be changed as frequently as you like. I'll describe what these are for below.
What's Your Gimmick?
At the real Burning Man, it seemed like everybody had a gimmick--some kind of reason to visit their campsite. Like one campsite would give you a footbath. Another campsite had a four-story tall "
skyscraper"
constructed of poles, plywood, and translucent sheets. You could watch people playing "
Dance Dance Immolation"
, a version of DDR where flames are shot at the contestants. I had a gimmick, too. If you came to my campsite, I'd draw your Tarot Portrait for you--your face on the tarot card which best suited your personality. People created interesting campsites for various reasons, but never for money. The game was to get somebody's attention.
And so it is with Virtual Burning Man. At your campsite, you will construct an attraction from the materials prespecified in your inventory. You can have this attraction be anything that could realistically be made using those items you have. How do you build your campsite? It's easy; you just will it to be so! Later you will describe your virtual campsite to visitors. If your depiction is unrealistic or doesn't seem possible based on your inventory, you might receive some constructive criticism from visitors.
It is only possible to describe your campsite and things happening there when someone is visiting you.
Likewise, it is only possible to learn about another person's campsite and events going on there if you are visiting his campsite.
How Do You Visit Other Campsites?
At Virtual Burning Man, you get to be exactly two places at one time. One of your virtual selves is out exploring other people's campsites, and the other virtual self is back at your own campsite playing host to anyone who might visit.
After Virtual Burning Man has started, you can specify the location of your explorer any time you want by posting in the
Explorer Topic. Your post looks like this...
"
I'm at Eytan's House of Snake Harmony now."
Just give the name of the campsite that you are exploring. If the owner hasn't specified a campsite name you could also just say something like "
I'm at eytanz's campsite."
Posting this message places your explorer self immediately at that campsite, until you make another post announcing that you have moved to a different campsite.
Once you are at someone's campsite, interesting private communication between yourself and campsite host will hopefully commence. Note that the host can only tell you what is happening at his campsite while you are in it. You might also arrive at someone's campsite when the real-life person is away from the DROD forum. In this case, you might wait around for a while, get bored, and then change your location again to someplace else. On the other hand, if you are about to go offline yourself and suspect the host will be around later, it might be a good idea to let him send you a message while you are away in real life. Your explorer self remains at a campsite, leaving the private channel of communication open, even if the real you walks away from the computer. And if your explorer self is not at a certain campsite, you should not talk about the campsite with that host. Change your location to his campsite first.
Also, don't forget that you can see who is currently logged onto the forum by just checking the bottom of
this page. Useful, right? If you see that eytanz is online, then it might be a good time to head over and check out this Snake Harmony business--whatever that is.
How Do People Visit You?
You can see how it would work the same for other people as it does for you. If you are Jeff_Ray, and Maurog posts "
I'm going to Jeff Ray's Magic Funtime Camp now"
in the Explorer Topic, then Maurog is at your campsite. This means you can start talking to Maurog
privately about your campsite. You do this by making use of the PM or EMail features of the forum. Other methods of private communication are allowed, i.e. IRC, MSN, but for Virtual Burning Man, default expectations are that you would use PM or EMail and then perhaps negotiate any future private conversation if wanted.
What do you say? Here's an example:
"
Maurog! Welcome to Jeff Ray's Magic Funtime Camp. Here you see three full-size schoolbusses arranged in a tripod with their front ends suspended about 30 feet in the air. A platform has been constructed at the apex. On the platform are pirate flags and telescopes and a life-sized plastic unicorn. It seems there is no way to reach the top, but Jeff is waving at you to come up."
To which Maurog might reply in an e-mail, "
Sure, I'll come up. But how do I get up there?"
To which Jeff replies, "
Jeff lowers a rope ladder down to the ground. And throws confetti and water balloons down at Maurog in an encouraging way."
...and it could go on for a bit in a fairly goalless way. Jeff might have arranged a game or presentation of some sort. Maurog might inquire into how the busses are kept up in the air. Jeff might provide a convincing explanation. After Maurog decides he's seen enough of the Funtime Camp, he can politely dismiss himself. Then he goes back to the Explorer Topic and announces what the next campsite is that he will travel to.
Suppose two or more people visit the camp at the same time. The host has the option to handle each visit in separately or in one combined experience. So if Tim arrives at Funtime Camp while Maurog is there, Jeff could just give the exact same introduction he gave Maurog if he wanted. Or he might instead say "
Maurog and Jeff are up on the platform pointing machine guns at Tim with happy grins on their faces."
Oh, by the way, nobody can die or otherwise be removed from the game unless they themselves want to be.
Remember! Only talk about specific details of camps in private conversation between the host and visitor while the visitor is at that camp. Surprising visitors when they arrive is a large part of what will make this fun, and too much communication erodes that. If you want to post something publicly that doesn't give away details, then that's fine.
Your Camp Name and Advertisement
You can't tell people about your camp until they get there, with one small exception: You can give your camp a name and an advertisement. The camp name can be whatever you want, up to ten words in length. Your advertisement can be up a hundred words in length and should be designed to bring people to your camp. Here's an example:
Techant's Mindbash Unlimited
Come to the Mindbash Unlimited to see what the natural and unnatural limitations of your mental powers amount to. Are there thoughts which you should not think? Synaptic knots will be unfastened.
I don't know what that is exactly, but I'd go and see it, wouldn't you? Hmm. Maybe I wouldn't.
Both your camp name and advertisement go in the
Campsite Topic along with your list of items to bring with you to Virtual Burning Man. You can change your camp name and advertisement whenever and as often as you wish.
Acquiring Other Items
If you can convince someone to give you one of the items he brought with him to Virtual Burning Man, then it is yours. Likewise you can give somebody any of your items. Trading would be the obvious way to acquire new items, but it's fine to just give somebody an item. The owner of the item should post an announcement of the gift in the Explorer Topic. Then the item should be removed and added by giver and recipient in their respective inventory posts found in the
Campsite Topic.
You can only receive an item from another player while one of you is at the other's campsite.
Remember that no new item can be created once Virtual Burning Man starts. You can construct items out of preexisting items, but nothing new can materialize, i.e. if you say "
I blindfold you so you can't see what I'm doing,"
then there should be some item in your inventory to use for the blindfold. You can't just make it up out of thin air.
Unpredictable Events
I have at least one event planned that will shake up the whole experience for everyone. It actually mirrors something that happened at the real Burning Man. I think you will enjoy it!
When Does the Contest --I Mean "Experience"... End?
It will end...
Local Time:10-15-2006 at 01:00 AM
-Erik
____________________________
The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
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[Last edited by ErikH2000 at 10-02-2006 01:54 AM]
