Re: designing socially-constructive spaces

["Brandon J. Van Every" <vanevery@indiegamedesign.com>]

David Galiel wrote:

> Not to stretch the physical analogy to the breaking point, but if a 
> public park has cold, narrow benches, no direct sunlight to keep the 
> grass alive, fragile lighting easily vandalized, padlocked bathrooms, 
> not a single trash can in sight, and no open space for street 
> performers to put on King Lear for our amusement, then it doesn't 
> really matter how big the signs are that say "Public Park", "Do Not 
> Litter", "Do Not Loiter", or how many armed guards roam around kicking 
> people out for trying to sit on the fountain's rim---most people will 
> eat their bagged lunches elsewhere. And, those that do dare the park, 
> are probably not those for whom civilization, cooperation and mutual 
> respect are primary, and they will probably end up behaving as the 
> environment encourages them to.

Many problems of human beings and human history are heavily determined 
by the environment.  A great book on such subjects is "Guns, Germs, and 
Steel" by Jared Diamond.  Bottom line: the peoples and continents that 
ended up dominating the world, were the ones that had initial advantages 
in food production, and that received those advantages due to diffusion 
across similar climactic zones.

So when I talk about random audiovisual generation, I'm talking about 
the enviornment.  In a fairly Artificial Life sense, although "life" per 
se is not my goal.


Cheers,                     www.indiegamedesign.com
Brandon Van Every           Seattle, WA

When no one else sells courage, supply and demand take hold.