Xymber Slade's "Civilization of the Internet" Interactive Story/Game

Longtime readers may remember Xymbers Slade, known in the past for his game and avatar reviews, as well as occasional screenshot cartoons. Under the pseudonym "Dr. Hervis Jasper," he's doing an interactive story/game about the evolution of a single cell lifeform to a multicellular organism, and on to more complex organisms to presumably something intelligent, which then developed a civilization.

 

It's a game where a bacteria arises from the depths to become first an animal, then a somewhat-intelligent animal, then an intelligent creature, onward and upward from a prehistoric group to a tribal (or not so tribal?) creature, and so on and so forth until you reach space... to infinity and beyond! Or something, at any rate.

Every day at the game's webpage, there will be an update, "For the first week and few days, you will be prompted to tweet suggestions for evolutions to the bacterium. Things such as color, how it moves, how it eats, what it eats, ANYTHING that you can think of that would make it beneficial. Feel free to suggest prey species, predators, anything to enrich this bacterium's environment." At first, the turns will represent 100 million years. Once one billion years have passed, options will open as to the organism's evolution, with "you will all vote and the one with the highest votes goes through."

So how will it end? In Xymber's words, "That's for the Internet to decide... and for me to find out!" So if you're curious to see what evolves from his interactive story/game, keep an eye on it, and tweet some suggestions how it goes.


The page can be found at: http://riseoftheinternet.wix.com/oneszeroesandtwos

Bixyl Shuftan

PC Gaming: Civ2 Game Lasted Ten Years

Remember the popular computer game Civilization? Created by Sid Meier, and first sold in 1991, it was just a few years before a sequel was sold: Civilization 2, or Civ2 as it became known by fans. Starting with a single city, players researched technology and harvested resourced to build and expand their territory through conquest or development. Games could sometimes last a while, taking some weeks, maybe a month or two to play out before someone either conquered the world, or researched enough technology and industry to build a starship to be the first to reach Alpha Centauri.

But how about a game lasting ten years?

In an Associated Press article by Derrik J. Lang, a player known as Lycerius posted on Reddit the details of his ten year campaign. In his game, it's the year 3991 with a 1700 year war that's left the planet scarred by numerous nuclear blasts, "The world is a hellish nightmare of suffering and devastation. There are 3 remaining super nations in the year 3991 A.D, each competing for the scant resources left on the planet after dozens of nuclear wars have rendered vast swaths of the world uninhabitable wastelands. … My goal for the next few years is to try and end the war and thus use the engineers to clear swamps and fallout so that farming may resume."

The Associated Press contacted Sid Meier about the game, to which he responded, "My first thought was, 'Wow! I can't believe anyone has been playing "Civ II" for that long,' ... It's been more than 15 years since we released that game, and I don't think any of us expected a decade-long game would come out of it."

As our real-life civilization has gone on, three more sequels, each with further changes to the game and graphics, have come out, in addition to a Facebook version .

Sources: Yahoo News, Reddit, Wikipedia

Bixyl Shuftan

Burning Life 2010 is Comming

When I received an invitation to visit the Burning Life at the SL7B, it struck me how close it is! The Burning Life 2010 is coming!

This year's theme is "Metropolis - Civilization in the Desert." If you like the builds in SL7B I know you will like the builds in the desert. The festivities will be held from October 16 through October 24 when the temple burns. The Man himself will burn on October 23. August 16 will be the date for volunteers to apply. There are so many opportunities for volunteers: rangers, greeters, lamplighters , dancers, DJ’s and stage managers and many more. It is a very busy week and so much help is needed.

That day seems a long way off, but it will arrive before we know it. There are training sessions for all who apply for various positions. On September 5, theme camp proposals can be submitted. September 13 through the 19 the exciting land rush takes place. I hope to be a Ranger again this year for the 3rd year. It is wonderful way to participate in the daily operations, assisting people with their concerns and helping visitors.

If you are interested in the preparations and information you can stop at this site on your travels through the sims of SL7B. You can also sign up for Burning Life Information Group there.

Gemma Cleanslate