Christ, I’m an old head but I remember way back in the day when people would spend weeks on message boards arguing over the optimal design spec for MMO economies.
The first time I heard the “wheat domesticated people” hypothesis now popularized in the book “Against the Grain” was on a forum for Asheron’s Call. Also, a bunch of long form research about how agricultural practices impacted social development (wheat giving birth to libertarian yeomen farmers while rice encouraged people to collectivize as a matter of agricultural necessity).
None of it mattered to the MMO producers, since it all they cared about was farming the player base. But it was a fun time to be a college kid with a direct line to software developers.
Christ, I’m an old head but I remember way back in the day when people would spend weeks on message boards arguing over the optimal design spec for MMO economies.
The first time I heard the “wheat domesticated people” hypothesis now popularized in the book “Against the Grain” was on a forum for Asheron’s Call. Also, a bunch of long form research about how agricultural practices impacted social development (wheat giving birth to libertarian yeomen farmers while rice encouraged people to collectivize as a matter of agricultural necessity).
None of it mattered to the MMO producers, since it all they cared about was farming the player base. But it was a fun time to be a college kid with a direct line to software developers.