As part of the educational program The Creepin’ Illiberalist Curriculum, Weird Economies is collaborating with artist Grayson Earle to develop a game played by the participants throughout the duration of the school.
Scrivener is an innovative, text-based game that takes place on Discord, drawing inspiration from Dungeons & Dragons (DnD), Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), and utilizing an AI LLM (large language model) to assist in nondeterministic storytelling. The game is set in a near-future world where illiberalism has gained a strong foothold, and the last bastions of the left have united to form a DAO to challenge the new world order. Players from various political backgrounds must collaborate to propose and build a new world, responding to crises and engaging in prefigurative actions. The narrative trajectory is co-created by the actions taken by the players; each action they decide on has massive implications for what comes next.
Key Features:
Gameplay on Discord: The game will take place within a Discord server allowing for easy access and engagement from people all over the world.
AI Assisted Storytelling: A custom AI storyteller will integrate the results of player proposals into a dynamic storyline of resistance and the future of humanity. The AI will also allow for open-ended results and enable players to make inquiries to the various fictional factions within the game.
Player Currency: Each player starts with a certain amount of digital currency, which they can use to propose and vote on projects within the game.
Factions: Players will join one of several factions, each with its own unique perspective and approach to resisting the new world order. From deep state progressivism to Anarchist accelerationism, players use different political frameworks to formulate plans of resistance and creativity.
Dispatches: During the course of play, players are presented with crises and opportunities to which they must respond.
Voting: Players can propose actions in response to dispatches by spending a portion of their currency. Other players can then vote on these proposals, with the winning proposal being implemented in the game.
Inspiration and Influences:
Dungeons & Dragons (DnD)
Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs)
Art after Money, Money after Art written by Max Haiven
The Game of Global Futures
Goals: The primary goal of Scrivener is to create an engaging and immersive game that encourages participatory governance, collaboration, and future-building. By drawing inspiration from various sources and utilizing an AI storyteller, the game aims to provide a unique and dynamic experience that fosters critical thinking and creative problem-solving.