One Hour One Life Forums

a multiplayer game of parenting and civilization building

You are not logged in.

#1 2019-05-28 07:55:24

SpiritBomb32
Member
Registered: 2019-05-20
Posts: 65

Encouraging monarchs

I've been playing for quite some time and I'm amazed as how towns stay alive so long without any ruler or leader but people just know what to do and do their own thing. Most people, at least myself, tend to stick to themselves while doing a project. Since you only have an hour people that are set on a task tend to be determined to finish that, they have no time for regulations and what to do and not do or what to look out for.
If you have a crown and want to be king or queen how do you actually become a king or queen? You don't really become a monarch and rule over the village, instead people say cool and go back to working.
How do you enforce this? How do you enforce law? Everyone has a basic understanding of what to do and not to do and that's it. If you want laws, you have to teach everyone what that is, and then when new people are born you teach them that thing, and once you're dead you have to rely on your descendants to keep that going and they probably won't be that into it as you were. it's like traditions.
Going back to kings and queens, simply getting people to realize that your in this position is the hardest part, going back to how communication is important. You could have someone just run around the village shouting they are the king! they are the king! This would give you some leadership but not the ability for people to follow you.

If someone murders someone else, they are still holding the knife. How can you punish this person without getting hurt yourself. While your talking to them, they'll just stab you once the cooldown is gone. What if someone drops the knife but still runs slow and has blood on their clothing/body that would fix the whole confrontation issue. But at that point they would be ready to die and just do that. What are some of your ideas?


- "The one who plants trees, knowing that he will never sit in their shade, has at least started to understand the meaning of life."
Add books, please Jason.

Offline

#2 2019-05-28 11:23:34

paulof
Member
Registered: 2019-05-12
Posts: 45

Re: Encouraging monarchs

Offline

#3 2019-05-28 17:47:55

SpiritBomb32
Member
Registered: 2019-05-20
Posts: 65

Re: Encouraging monarchs

sorry should have read that first. I think the whole subject of society ideals within the game are interesting

Last edited by SpiritBomb32 (2019-05-28 20:01:43)


- "The one who plants trees, knowing that he will never sit in their shade, has at least started to understand the meaning of life."
Add books, please Jason.

Offline

#4 2019-05-28 17:56:37

Spoonwood
Member
Registered: 2019-02-06
Posts: 4,369

Re: Encouraging monarchs

Humans developed monarchy, because it was an improvement over despotic tyrannies.  People didn't like monarchies in general, and I don't think they do in this game either, and won't either.  Benevolent monarchs are rare, and even then, people don't like having a lack of control.  Crowns shouldn't have ever got put into the game.


Danish Clinch.
Longtime tutorial player.

Offline

#5 2019-05-28 18:50:20

Keyin
Member
Registered: 2019-05-09
Posts: 257

Re: Encouraging monarchs

Spoonwood wrote:

Humans developed monarchy, because it was an improvement over despotic tyrannies.  People didn't like monarchies in general, and I don't think they do in this game either, and won't either.  Benevolent monarchs are rare, and even then, people don't like having a lack of control.  Crowns shouldn't have ever got put into the game.


Monarchy could be simply seen as a formalized version of despotic tyrannies... even a tyrant needs to keep those close to him/her happy or else they will be overthrown. Most people who don a crown in this game fail to do that. It's all me me me. But done right, I have followed one king.

People do not like having a lack of control. That is true. But then what do you propose instead of one person being in charge like a president/monarch? If it is everyone old enough to hold a weapon shares equal power... that has it's problems too. Most people do not care one way or another how things are done, as long as it does not directly impact them. That is sort of what we have in most villages. Those 14+ are in charge equally, and most of the time they don't care what anyone else is doing. But then when someone does something that directly interferes with their unspoken goals, they all too often lash out and kill the person or make a big deal out of it.




The sort of government we have in most towns is eerily similar to group projects. Often, one person is running around trying to work on everything... someone hasn't contributed at all... you told someone to do something but they haven't and you don't know where they are. At least with an assigned leader, tasks/responsibilities can be delegated to others. The King/leader has a right to punish those who aren't meeting the bare minimum requirements to maintain their sector. People can specialize on one thing instead of worrying if someone else forgot to do something. We can have one person on baby duty, explaining the laws instead of a bunch of people just standing by the fire oo'ing and aww'ing at their babies.

Maybe others enjoy their freedom more, but I get kind of tired off it. Often as a baby I'll ask "JOB?" and my mom will say something like "Eh, just do whatever" "Look around, be independent" "Whatever needs to be done".

That's not really satisfying... some of my best lives have been where others have told me they need me to take their place as hunter/guard.. or where they saying something like "We really need X..no one is doing X" If it isn't something like taming a sheep, I'll usually do the job that needs to be done and continue to work on it for the rest of my time whether that be baking, maintaining the farm, making clothes, or making more space/organizing. This sadly doesn't happen often.

Offline

#6 2019-05-28 19:10:09

DestinyCall
Member
Registered: 2018-12-08
Posts: 4,563

Re: Encouraging monarchs

I think most villages would benifit more by having a job board, rather than a monarch.   Some random dude running around with a crown on his head is useless to me.   But having a way to collect and distibute information on the current state of the village and what needs to be done?   That is priceless.

People could post projects that they are working on and jobs that they are doing or jobs that need to get done.    New players could check the board and get to work on something they understand.  Experienced players could tackle the longterm or more challenging jobs.   Better organization and cross-generational communication would be great.

I don't need a bad leader demanding that I follow his silly rules.   I need a place to post job information that does not clutter up the village with indestructible paper.

Last edited by DestinyCall (2019-05-28 19:13:41)

Offline

#7 2019-05-28 20:21:45

Spoonwood
Member
Registered: 2019-02-06
Posts: 4,369

Re: Encouraging monarchs

Keyin wrote:
Spoonwood wrote:

Humans developed monarchy, because it was an improvement over despotic tyrannies.  People didn't like monarchies in general, and I don't think they do in this game either, and won't either.  Benevolent monarchs are rare, and even then, people don't like having a lack of control.  Crowns shouldn't have ever got put into the game.


Monarchy could be simply seen as a formalized version of despotic tyrannies... even a tyrant needs to keep those close to him/her happy or else they will be overthrown. Most people who don a crown in this game fail to do that. It's all me me me. But done right, I have followed one king.

People do not like having a lack of control. That is true. But then what do you propose instead of one person being in charge like a president/monarch? If it is everyone old enough to hold a weapon shares equal power... that has it's problems too. Most people do not care one way or another how things are done, as long as it does not directly impact them. That is sort of what we have in most villages. Those 14+ are in charge equally, and most of the time they don't care what anyone else is doing. But then when someone does something that directly interferes with their unspoken goals, they all too often lash out and kill the person or make a big deal out of it.

I don't propose anything, because this game just won't work well with government.  Governments exist because of real-world problems.  Games with government end up all too likely to descend into tyrannies and bad laws that discourage players from playing.  I think Jason has said something about wanting governments in the game, but he should give up on that idea.  It's not a good one, and not something that people will likely find enjoyable.  Even democracies would be flawed, because real-life elections aren't interesting enough to enough of the people interested in games to actually want to go through with elections.  Plenty of people who can vote in the real world don't.  StackExchange sends up messages about moderator elections (which they should), probably in part because people don't find elections all that interesting, and only do them, because there aren't other ways.  Also, democracies have the problem of the tyranny of the majority.  Tyrannies of a majority aren't good for games.  Myself and others play games to be free, NOT to have burdens.   You want direction, you can ask.  Or come up with a preset set of things to do if no one gives you any direction that you go to if no one gives you direction.  Like getting iron or cooking every pie type and organizing them or getting a lot of clay and firing it up (I don't think I've EVER seen a main server town where I've thought "oh... we have enough clay now forever").  Or making raw rubber ties.  But, many, if not most, people enjoy making decisions for themselves and enjoy taking on their own projects.  So, NO to the whole idea of a government in a game like OHOL.


Danish Clinch.
Longtime tutorial player.

Offline

#8 2019-05-28 20:22:45

Spoonwood
Member
Registered: 2019-02-06
Posts: 4,369

Re: Encouraging monarchs

DestinyCall wrote:

I think most villages would benifit more by having a job board, rather than a monarch.   Some random dude running around with a crown on his head is useless to me.   But having a way to collect and distibute information on the current state of the village and what needs to be done?   That is priceless.

People could post projects that they are working on and jobs that they are doing or jobs that need to get done.    New players could check the board and get to work on something they understand.  Experienced players could tackle the longterm or more challenging jobs.   Better organization and cross-generational communication would be great.

I don't need a bad leader demanding that I follow his silly rules.   I need a place to post job information that does not clutter up the village with indestructible paper.

I wholeheartedly agree with this.


Danish Clinch.
Longtime tutorial player.

Offline

#9 2019-05-28 20:46:46

Dodge
Member
Registered: 2018-08-27
Posts: 2,467

Re: Encouraging monarchs

Yeah there's definitly a lack of hierarchy in the game, crowns are just an RP element.

Currently there is no reason to have them, everyone is doing is own thing even if it's for the common good there is still no reason to cooperate as you can do everything yourself. There is cooperation in the sense of making the lineage survive but not on a deeper level of interactions between players since they are not needed.

You could spend the whole life without talking and everything would still work out fine.

There is not really group decisions that are required, there is too much emphasis on progressing as fast as possible, making enough food, not starving etc and not enough on making important decisions as a tribe, family or group of people.

I think it should be more balanced between immediate survival and making important decisions that require some sort of hierarchy or group.

Offline

#10 2019-05-28 21:00:34

Dodge
Member
Registered: 2018-08-27
Posts: 2,467

Re: Encouraging monarchs

There is too much stress on food but at the same time an overabundance of ressources, which means you have a lot of ressources to make food but have to make it very fast and continually.

You dont really have to think about the impact the ressources you use are going to have but more about being as fast as possible.

This really acentuates the effect that you have in some villages where everyone is running around like a headless chicken and not interacting with anyone, and that's really too bad especially for this game and how better it could be if it was slightly different.

Imagine if there wasn't this much stress on food, but you actually had to interact with others to make important decisions that would eventually make the village successful or risk failling.

It would be much less stressful and more about making the right decisions instead of being the fastest robot tongue

It would be challenging too but in a much more interesting way imo.

There would still be stress on food but it wouldnt be because you have to make food, food and more food, faster and all the time but because you make the right foods with the right ressources at the right time with the right group of people.

Last edited by Dodge (2019-05-28 21:01:08)

Offline

#11 2019-05-28 21:09:26

paulof
Member
Registered: 2019-05-12
Posts: 45

Re: Encouraging monarchs

DestinyCall wrote:

I think most villages would benifit more by having a job board, rather than a monarch.   Some random dude running around with a crown on his head is useless to me.   But having a way to collect and distibute information on the current state of the village and what needs to be done?   That is priceless.

People could post projects that they are working on and jobs that they are doing or jobs that need to get done.    New players could check the board and get to work on something they understand.  Experienced players could tackle the longterm or more challenging jobs.   Better organization and cross-generational communication would be great.

I don't need a bad leader demanding that I follow his silly rules.   I need a place to post job information that does not clutter up the village with indestructible paper.

I said the exact same thing in another topic, it would be like quests, since there is a lot of motivational problems in the game, quests would be cool. We could use this board to post rules, laws, all kind of information.

Offline

#12 2019-05-28 21:46:48

Keyin
Member
Registered: 2019-05-09
Posts: 257

Re: Encouraging monarchs

There are a lot of questions that need to be addressed about a quest/jobs board

How many quests/jobs can each person post?

If it is just one, it would be hard for you to try and coordinate a village. If you can post many, you can fill it up with junk/spam/wild goose chases

Who decides when a quest/job is complete?

Unless there is a mechanical way to determine this, people can just falsely complete jobs and take them off the board. If only the creator can say it is complete, eventually the board will be full of stuff that is already done. If it requires a certain number of people, it may not be feasible to get that many people to confirm it is complete.

How hard would it be to create/destroy the board?

How many quests/jobs could a board fit?

What order would you see quests/jobs in or would they all be displayed simultaneously?


basically...I think that a board wouldn't be a simple solution. People would probably grief them the way they do signs if they're easy to edit/remove from.

If they're hard to edit/remove from, people will post a bunch of stupid quests/jobs  like get aunt Sheryl to shut her mouth about my man.

I am not against this idea, but I would really like it if someone could flesh out the details with its own separate thread.

A jobs board would definitely help, but the type of players who would read/use a jobs board as intended are probably well aware of what needs to be done, and they can probably tell what projects are partially done that need to be finished from looking at what items are lying on the ground.

After the novelty of them wears off, most players would probably only take a quick look through them the way they do papers now or not even bother.

Also, the job board would probably be reserved for non-emergency job needs... like if the farmer died and no one is farming, no one is going to look at the field, see that the berry bushes are drying up, and go to post it on the job board. They will either work on the problem themselves, ignore the problem, or go to the middle of town and start yelling about it.

Again, most people will probably only look at the board once or twice in their lifetime.

Things like building a bakery might be good to put on the board though, because it isn't an emergency that it gets built and it will probably take a while.

Having it work as  a list of occupations would probably be good too... you only need to list once that you'll be focused on tailoring.

Other people come to the board and see other people listed as gathering iron/rabbit trapping so they decide to do something else. I am picturing something similar to the Bee Movie, where they have a list of jobs openings constantly being updated as worker bees die.

Offline

#13 2019-05-28 22:31:53

Sukallinen
Member
Registered: 2019-04-03
Posts: 180

Re: Encouraging monarchs

Kids ask me job? often.
I give couple suggestions if town is short on a thing. If not I say sky is the limit, we have everything, have fun ! (Actually I usually say hf more than luv u kid).

Often no soil so I say if you'd make one or two compost it would be great ! Or when old enough, iron's only at 20 now so needed later on badly. And that I will go east searching once I am no longer getting kids - usually kids see while I take care of them I do baking/smith/composts, hence I often see them ask for Job.

RP'ers or random I seldom see they ask about it. Not that everyone doesn't have their place, but RP without making two composts as kid is just exploiting useful (to town) people.
One day I'll take couple more drinks and waste all parasitic RP'ers in town smile

Offline

#14 2019-05-28 23:44:15

RodneyC86
Member
Registered: 2019-05-11
Posts: 467

Re: Encouraging monarchs

I simply don't think a formal government is possible. Life is too short.

Heck, we can't even get through a 2 minute parley without  starting to get hungry..

Discussions on voting issues, constitution, monarch decrees needs several minutes , even when it's ultra conscise. And before that you need to convince everyone to gather round the town square. If you miss a few attendees, they will be confused later when enforcement happens and misunderstanding will cause stabbings and drama

Simply put, life is too short for politics on this game. maybe if this game were 6 hours one life, maaaybe it would be feasible.

I do agree our current state of perma  anarchy inevitably leads to a lot of inefficiencies in terms of production lines being slowed down due to having no coordination. But there's a reason why no one being practical pushes for more organization via having a king/queen/elder , it's simply not worth the time. At best maybe I have been a farm overseer as a baker along with a cousin, because we tend to notice when one of our ingredients starts to get scarce, we will try to encourage more berry/wheat/carrot farmers/ trappers/shepherds. Some listen some don't.

Until the core mechanics change drastically (it won't) , anarchy is most efficient

Offline

#15 2019-05-28 23:44:18

DestinyCall
Member
Registered: 2018-12-08
Posts: 4,563

Re: Encouraging monarchs

How exactly a job board/quest board gets implemented would depend largely on how "gamefied" Jadon wants to make it and what exactly he wants it to do, since some possibilities would require a lot more programming than others, especially if you want to try to force people to use the board in a specific way.

Working with existing elements and allowing freedom of expression, I think the simplest way to implement this concept in game would be to make a "notice board" which acts as a fixed spot where you can post a limited number of paper notes for people to read.    This board could even be the current sign board, changed to allow people to add a written note onto the sign, as an alternative option to writing with big letters.   These notes could be clicked individually to read each message.   The board can only fit a certain number of notes, maybe 6-10 ... whatever number looks good in-game and lets you select each note easily.   Once added to the board, the notes are locked in and cannot be removed by hand.    Instead, the oldest note will automatically decay 60 minutes after being posted.     Therefore, all notices currently on the board will be relatively "current" and it gives us a way to clean up indestructable notes.

Griefing is possible, but if you put the board in the middle of town, it would be relatively difficult to grief the board without drawing unwanted attention.  I think many towns would build a notice board near the nursery, where new arrivals can find it, so there should always be a few people around the board.   Also, the board could double as a language teaching tool.  The nurse could read to babies in a mixed family town to improve their language skills.   And you could post game tips on the board to help teach new players.     You could post the laws for your town too ... although you would still be responsible for enforcing the laws by yourself.  Or add quests with contact information to let people know what you want done and who to see for a reward.    Some towns might end up with multiple notice boards and others would have none.   But I bet people would find it useful enough to put in the effort to make them.

Offline

Board footer

Powered by FluxBB