backbone.interactive

Myzel: Selforganization in Networked Worlds

Myzel: Selforganization in Networked Worlds presents the design and proof-of-concept evaluation of an online community game developed at Vienna University of Technology by backbone.interactive.

• Myzel is an educational online community game developed at Vienna University of Technology by backbone.interactive, in which players negotiate and create their own rules, economy, and political organizations to learn how modern societies function.
• The Vienna proof of concept (2000–2001) drew roughly 1,000 registrations, about 150 active players, a core group of around 50, and a peak of about 30 concurrent participants.
• Energy and information systems, especially refineries and the publisher/eZine structure, drove gameplay, and players spontaneously formed company-like clusters.