I don’t think an incentives system for game activity is a good idea. For most online games, more in-game activity helps gain in-game utility. A gaming clan is intended to help its members all gain in-game utility, and incentives for game inactivity would be counterproductive towards those ends. Furthermore, forming a SGG or LWGG would probably draw many of us towards whatever game it is implemented in while likely only resulting in a slight decrease in activity for those already there (maybe an increase for those games where managing a clan takes a lot of work).
However, the idea of forming gaming clans as a way to get publicity for LW or SIAI could be a good one in games with a large social aspect. Still, I would not recommend incentives for inactivity, because increased interaction with other players would increase the effectiveness of a gaming publicity drive. Also, I think a Less Wrong clan would be much more effective than a Singularitarian clan, because most people would probably at first write of “Singularitarian” as some nutcase cult belief, and have no interest, but there are many people who desire to become less wrong and could be helped out a lot by this site, and many of them would learn about SIAI from LW after we hook them in.
Another possibility to use gaming productively is to try to start up a LW- or SIAI-backed MMO and use it to generate revenue. It seems unlikely that this would be practical, but I’m not sure of that, so I figure throwing that idea out there can’t hurt.
Another possibility to use gaming productively is to try to start up a LW- or SIAI-backed MMO and use it to generate revenue. It seems unlikely that this would be practical, but I’m not sure of that, so I figure throwing that idea out there can’t hurt.
I don’t see any reason why it would be useful for the MMO to be explicitly LW- or SIAI- backed. It should be simple enough for anyone who affiliates with either to simply donate the profits of such a venture to SIAI/FHI/etc. without any of those institutions having to take the status hit of being involved in a video game.
Whether the word “Singularitarian” gives a bad impression may vary strongly from game to game. EVE Online, for example, has a science fiction setting and a smarter-than-usual playerbase, and the test server for the game is already called “Singularity” :)
About creating an MMO, it had crossed my mind that a team of SIAI-affiliated programmers could try to partner with EVE Online developers and create subgames to include in their game (they have very grand plans for the long-term growth of their game), getting to share in the revenue created in a way or another. This is quite a wild idea, but perhaps just crazy enough that it could even work. (Though I’m not making big claims regarding the probability.)
I’m a graphics programmer in the games industry so if anyone has any technical or logistical questions about what might be involved in this kind of project that they would like to direct to someone with relevant experience I’d be happy to try and help.
I don’t think an incentives system for game activity is a good idea. For most online games, more in-game activity helps gain in-game utility. A gaming clan is intended to help its members all gain in-game utility, and incentives for game inactivity would be counterproductive towards those ends. Furthermore, forming a SGG or LWGG would probably draw many of us towards whatever game it is implemented in while likely only resulting in a slight decrease in activity for those already there (maybe an increase for those games where managing a clan takes a lot of work).
However, the idea of forming gaming clans as a way to get publicity for LW or SIAI could be a good one in games with a large social aspect. Still, I would not recommend incentives for inactivity, because increased interaction with other players would increase the effectiveness of a gaming publicity drive. Also, I think a Less Wrong clan would be much more effective than a Singularitarian clan, because most people would probably at first write of “Singularitarian” as some nutcase cult belief, and have no interest, but there are many people who desire to become less wrong and could be helped out a lot by this site, and many of them would learn about SIAI from LW after we hook them in.
Another possibility to use gaming productively is to try to start up a LW- or SIAI-backed MMO and use it to generate revenue. It seems unlikely that this would be practical, but I’m not sure of that, so I figure throwing that idea out there can’t hurt.
I don’t see any reason why it would be useful for the MMO to be explicitly LW- or SIAI- backed. It should be simple enough for anyone who affiliates with either to simply donate the profits of such a venture to SIAI/FHI/etc. without any of those institutions having to take the status hit of being involved in a video game.
Whether the word “Singularitarian” gives a bad impression may vary strongly from game to game. EVE Online, for example, has a science fiction setting and a smarter-than-usual playerbase, and the test server for the game is already called “Singularity” :)
About creating an MMO, it had crossed my mind that a team of SIAI-affiliated programmers could try to partner with EVE Online developers and create subgames to include in their game (they have very grand plans for the long-term growth of their game), getting to share in the revenue created in a way or another. This is quite a wild idea, but perhaps just crazy enough that it could even work. (Though I’m not making big claims regarding the probability.)
I’m a graphics programmer in the games industry so if anyone has any technical or logistical questions about what might be involved in this kind of project that they would like to direct to someone with relevant experience I’d be happy to try and help.