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The New Seed Non-Combat MMO

#1
Eleven years ago (2005-2006), there was an unusual MMO called Seed in development.

I was active in discussions of it because I liked that it was something different -- competition without twitchy simulated physical combat, and an emphasis on supporting multiple playstyles. I wrote a bit about old-Seed on this very forum.

Unfortunately, like Babylon 5, "it failed."

But it looks like the idea didn't die. Today I see a story that a new Seed is in development.

Interestingly (beyond its own features), the strong social element of this version will be powered by SpatialOS, the massively-multiple engine from U.K.-based Improbable.

<desire to know more intensifies>
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Re: The New Seed Non-Combat MMO

#4
Talvieno wrote:I'm the opposite. I don't like the look of this one at all. I dislike games that intentionally try to get you to spend all your time on the computer. (Just my personal stance, of course - I understand that some people like this sort of thing. :) )
Hey, if this winds up just being some "Clash of Clans" or "Battle of Bands" or "Eructation of Econometricists" or any other mobile-like money vacuum, I'm out. I would never even have posted a comment about such a thing.

What I've seen so far of the new Seed (and, to be fair, what I remember of the original) is the idea of enabling real humans to interact in a game that supports cooperation and competition in ways other than twitch-based physical combat simulation. That seems mention-worthy.

But, certainly, we'll have to see.
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Re: The New Seed Non-Combat MMO

#6
Flatfingers wrote: What I've seen so far of the new Seed (and, to be fair, what I remember of the original) is the idea of enabling real humans to interact in a game that supports cooperation and competition in ways other than twitch-based physical combat simulation. That seems mention-worthy.
eve online :ghost:

the combat that is there isnt twitch based :ghost:

(and the other parts are very socially driven as well if you want to get into the higher levels)
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Re: The New Seed Non-Combat MMO

#7
I played EVE for three or four years, so I'm generally familiar with its emergent social/political/economic structures.

I say "generally" in a completely non-snarky way because I personally never was active in any of the social stuff. I never joined any corp, for instance. I know this meant I was Doing EVE Wrong, and I agree with that assessment. But I hated the null-sec backstabbery and wanted no part of it, or of being forced to play according to some corp leader's schedule and whims. I was just there to observe, which I did.

My impression is that Seed will more strongly and formally emphasize cooperative play, and not so much EVE's constant large-scale (and real-world-money-backed) conflict. That makes it more interesting to me, if they can get this balance right.

But we'll see.
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Re: The New Seed Non-Combat MMO

#8
Flatfingers wrote:I played EVE for three or four years, so I'm generally familiar with its emergent social/political/economic structures.

I say "generally" in a completely non-snarky way because I personally never was active in any of the social stuff. I never joined any corp, for instance. I know this meant I was Doing EVE Wrong, and I agree with that assessment. But I hated the null-sec backstabbery and wanted no part of it, or of being forced to play according to some corp leader's schedule and whims. I was just there to observe, which I did.
You played entirely like I did. :) I played for less than a month, though, before I'd had enough. Too much grind.
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Re: The New Seed Non-Combat MMO

#9
An interesting wrinkle in the story of Seed (still in development) is that Klang Games have brought onboard Lawrence Lessig as an advisor.

Lessig's role will be to guide Klang in creating basic tools by which players will be able to create their own political structures for in-game governance.

This is pretty neat. Lessig is a "comparative constitutional" theorist in his day job, so he has a pro-level understanding of the nuts-and-bolts mechanics of governance and the benefits and dangers of using these tools to control the behaviors of other people. He also has experience in virtual world development; I think he's the one who coined the phrase, "code is law." So he also gets the interface between real-world government and gameworld design in a way that few others (since the late Greg Lastowka) have.

On the negative side, Lessig is a biased political activist. He thinks the U.S. Supreme Court decided very wrongly on the "Citizens United" case (on whether to restrict funding of political speech), and even ran for president in 2016. On the plus side, he's not reflexively anti-capitalist; he's capable of acknowledging (if somewhat grudgingly IMO) that not everyone on the other side of the political fence is a stupid/evil bigoted fascist; and he's specifically stated that his interest in Seed is not to push any particular political structure, but rather that he's sincerely curious to see what systems players themselves create using the tools provided by the game's code/law.

I still have a couple of serious questions I haven't seen addressed yet by Klang/Lessig. Still, this development is intriguing enough that I thought others here might be interested in reading what Lessig has said about enabling the emergence of governance structures in Seed.

VentureBeat: Vast online games need a political structure

Motherboard: Lawrence Lessig is working on an MMO

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