solidarityGame/CONCEPT.md

# The Concept

This is an open source MMORPG.
The players live in a cyberpunk dystopia, but slowly discover and build alternatives to wageslave life.

## Story

Late stage capitalism, everything is privatized. Cultural expression stagnates.

Beginning Classes:
* Wage Slaves: Most people are Wageslaves and do unnecessary bullshit for little money. Don't have much free time.
* Unemployed Punks: don't get enough subsidies to pay the rent, have to do small daily jobs or become a squatter to survive
* Corp Execs: plan the production of Wageslaves (keep as many as possible busy to get gov subsidies), develop corporate science (not sharable with other Execs)
* Police: Beat up demonstrations, catch ppl without tickets, enforce rules, use surveillance.
* Politicians: Make policy as you wish - you can help Commoners, but you can also take their rights away. Give public jobs to Execs, or Commoners.
* Commoners: Not a starting class, everyone starts as one of the other 4.

The people already exist, have attributes, property, identity, running costs, and a daily life - Players randomly take over their lives when they spawn.
Every person has a few friends, it varies and changes dynamically for NPCs. players only start as characters with at least one player friend.
Only players can start alternative projects, but NPCs can join them and passively take part.
Some are enemies, and if players spawn in them, they can choose to play villain or help the Commoners.

* You begin playing one day in corporate life
* One day later you hear of collectives, somebody signs you up for the fediverse
* You can start to partake in such a collective (will u lose your job one day?)
* You probably need to become criminal to get money to start first collectives - squatting, shoplifting, fare-dodging, bank robbery, hacking

### One day in the game

One day lasts half an hour or so ingame.
* 0600 stores open
* 0800 get up, lazy!
* 1000 wageslaves' work starts
* 1800 wageslaves' work ends
* 2200 stores close
* 0100 Public transport closes
* 0200 begin of curfew
* 0600 end of curfew

Every charakter should sleep around 4 hours a day, else they suffer. 
Players can read/chat in that time. There should be alarms to wake them up again.

Modules of starting character days, randomly chosen:
* riding public transport
* working
* going to the store
* surfing fakebook
* sleeping

If you aren't actively playing, your character just does his routine and sustains himself.

# How you play

### Interface

The Interface would be a browser: 
* one window displays the view of the player (ego-perspective, mini-games, information HUD)
* one window displays a mastodon instance which displays the ingame fediverse, but also connects to IRL fediverses,
* one window displays the fakebook, ingame public social network + messenger.
* other windows are used for links created in the game itself, maybe being displayed on wordpress instances.

### Gameplay

Players are not limited to one of these areas of gameplay.

Hacking
* Science tree - developing FLOSS software for production, malware, defense, social/blogs, encryption, automation, cryptocoins, freifunk firmware
* Build infrastructure for Commoners (Fediverse, Blogs, Organization Software, Mining cryptocoins, Freifunk Gateways)
* Attack institutions - Metaspoiled, DDos, Sousveillance, Leaks, Ransomware

Producing
* Something not entirely boring maybe? Minigames where you can get better with experience, but which are also diverse
* Build, purchase or give away machines for automation, so you can quit doing that bullshit and start with other stuff
* How can you build networks which can sustain others?
* Surplus has negative consequences? Your avatar gets uglier? lol. taxes?
* How do you get a market? Shopping infrastructure

Politics
* Demonstrations build Pressure you can use as political currency
* Network of Decision Makers you need to influence and where you can get to
* Modules of Policy which help Commoners
* Withstand privatisations

Mobility
* Fare dodging
* Finally establishing own Infrastructures
* Policy helps a lot
* Automation introduces self-driving trains & cars at some point

Housing
* Rent a standardized container
* Alternative living projects
* Squats
* Wohnbaugenossenschaften

Activism
* Writing theory
* Do Demonstrations
* Talk with people
* Information booths
* Strike

Combat
* Nazis
* Police
* Machos?
* Other forms of crime, which sink with further game progress?
* Helping refugees flee?
* Corporate Security Forces
* Bank robbery

### Attributes

Do we need attributes or is gameplay solvable by skill and experience only? Which is more fun?
Maybe attributes promote specialization and inhibit trying out different work experiences.

Maybe attributes for fighting aren't a bad idea? You need to figure that out anyway, and it would give police a comprehensible advantage.
Weapons would soon become the deciding factor anyway, though.

## Ingame economy

What is happening in the game and how can the players partake?

### Sectors of Corporate production

Each product has a different minigame. 
Wageslaves get employed permanently, and for 8h a day.
Punks are employed only per daily basis, at different times and for 4h each.

* Producing Food: mix the right ingredients, so tasty Soylent/Beer/other food types emerge.
* Coder: arrange Code Snippets so they make sense, find bugs in code.
* Server setup: execute the right commands to setup a server in different environments. (Reality ftw!)
* Server admin: scale services, click on wrong database entries.
* Advertising: choose image snippets, place them nicely and think of a small slogan.
* Doctor: treat illnesses.
* Care: treat people who need your help.
* Hardware: Completing puzzles of blueprints or small pieces to build functioning circuits -> new PCs, machines and weapons.
* Journalist: arrange nonsense texts so the right conjunctions meet up.
* Busdriver: Drive from station to station, control tickets
* Truckdriver: Drive from station to station, load and unload cargo
* Delivery: bringing packages to houses
* Vendor: putting goods in the shelves, selling the goods (ppl will be glad when this gets automated), Vendors suffer from monopolization
* Control Ads: rate Ads if they are nice, sort out malicious ones.
* Censorship: review posts on fakebook, posts are double-checked
* Security: Control the documents of people coming in (papers please?), beat them up if they aren't allowed to be here
* Police: use surveillance, beat and lock up perpetrators of crimes, undercover cops
* Exec: move money from one investment to another to manage employees (production & infrastructure), research, and PR. Command Security.

### Sectors of Commons production

* Producing Food: mix the right ingredients, so tasty Soylent/Beer/other food types emerge.
* Gardening: take care of plants, viable ecosystem
* Coding: arrange Code Snippets so they make sense, find bugs in code.
* Server setup: execute the right commands to setup a server for different purposes. (Reality ftw!)
* Server admin: scale services, click on wrong database entries.
* Hacking: find vulnerable targets and use metaspoiled to exploit them. Ransomware, Botnets, Leaks, Sousveillance...
* Doctor: treat illnesses.
* Care: treat people who need your help.
* Hardware: Completing puzzles of blueprints or small pieces to build functioning circuits -> new PCs, machines and weapons.
* Journalism: arrange nonsense texts so the right conjunctions meet up.
* Busdriver: Drive from station to station, control tickets
* Truckdriver: Drive from station to station, load and unload cargo
* Delivery: bringing packages to houses
* Build: constructing buildings for private space or public usage
* Bank robber: attack banks to steal money for projects to use
* Distribute Flyers: stand in the city and give flyers to people

### Crime

Police control whether crime happens and pursue the perpetrators.
People can also point out crime and get a small reward.

* Shoplifting
* Squatting
* Being on the streets between 0200 and 0600
* Strike
* Stealing water & electricity
* Wrongly review Ads or Posts
* Hacking
* fare-dodging
* Bank robbery
* Steal at work
* Distributing flyers
* peacefully protest
* violently protest
* Drug consumption
* using cryptocoins

Policy can outlaw more actions, but can also legalize some.

### Other Activities of Commoners

Organize Parties or Demonstrations
* get a location
* buy or steal necessary items
* promote via flyers, emails, public posts

### Infrastructure

You can usually use existing infrastructure, until you build up own infrastructure - but it's expensive and helps the enemy.

* Transport: busses and trains, later self-driving
* Internet: rented flats have internet, you can build Freifunk
* water/electricity: public service, private service, tapping them
* Logistics: pushcarts, trucks and trains, later self-driving
* Shops: stores, black markets, parties
* Delivery: delivery guys, drones

## Research

In which directions can the ingame society develop?

### Corporate Research Modules

Automation
* Flying Drones
* Self-Driving Cars
* Self-Driving Trains
* Food Machines
* Vending Machines
* Medical Bots

Surveillance
* Security Bots
* Cameras
* Tracking
* Intercepting Communication

Internet
* Augmented Reality
* Tailored Ads (improving buying efficiency)
* Fuckbook functions

Ecology
* Nuclear Energy
* Fusion Reactor
* Coal Energy
* Solar Energy
* Wind Energy
* Hydroelectric Energy

### Commons Research Modules

Software
* Metaspoiled
* Freifunk Firmware
* Fediverse functions
* cryptoMSG
* Blogs
* Cryptocoin

Hardware
* open source PCs, Servers & Phones
* Flying Drones
* Self-Driving Cars
* Self-Driving Trains
* Food Machines
* Vending Machines
* Medical Bots

Tools
* Weapons
* Pushcart
* Armor
* Buidlings out of trash parts

Ecology
* Solar Energy
* Wind Energy
* Hydroelectric Energy

## Politics

The representative democracy can be more or less authoritarian.

### Political System

Multiple political parties are competing for positions of power.
At best, momentary, spontaneous coalitions have to be forged to pass a law.
There is no ingame tool for permanent coalitions.

Everyone can candidate for an office, usually you found and join political parties though.
Everyone except refugees have voting rights.

### Policy Modules

Economic Policy:
* Shorter working hours
* Universal Basic Income
* Outlaw or legalize forms of production
* Privatize or nationalize companies or infrastructures
* Give subsidies for certain jobs
* receive taxes

Security Policy:
* Outlaw or legalize crimes
* Outlaw or legalize technology
* Outlaw or legalize research

## City

Should live in different classes, quarters...

Bridges between Skyscrapers? How do the Skyscrapers look?

Slums ftw, easier to squat, less police