The Emerging MMPORGocracy

Via: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/07/arts/07eve.html

<quote>

"So now, in a sociological twist, the company that makes Eve (Online, an online role-playing community with 200,000 players), based in Iceland (population 300,000), says it will tackle the problem the way a democracy would. In what appears to be a first, the company plans to hold elections so that players can select members of an oversight committee.

The company will then fly those players to Iceland regularly so they can audit CCP’s operations and report back to their player-constituents. And taking cues from transitions to democracy in the developing world, CCP says it will call in election monitors from universities in Europe and the United States."

</endquote>

The net has always held the promise of navigating around existing political structures. Jung said that no one wants war - instead, we are convinced that "the others" want a war with us, a conviction instilled by political leaders and broadcast media to reinforce that idea in a common drumbeat. The web promised a media where those conversations are between people, not representatives of nations.

Looking at blogs written from Iraqis as open letters to the citizens behind their occupational armies, or photography from Tehran - you see that kind of lateral conversation happening with greater frequency than ever before, though still with minimal impact.

So the "evolution" of democratic structures in other areas of the online world is fascinating - what would happen in World of Warcraft, or any other massive online multi-player, if citizens begin inventing their own forms of democracy?

Let's assume, for fun, that this is a movement that takes hold, where virtual citizens become political stakeholders in online environments.

Does it serve as a forum for testing out new, grassroots democratic systems and organizational structures, or is it a further descent into simulation at the expense of attention to the- for whatever it's worth- "actual" stewardship of Democracy?

Anyone who wants to help me figure out this impulse is welcome to it- I can't decide if an MMPORG-ocracy is another example of "American Idol" voter turnout or an actual progressive moment in communication?

-eryk salvaggio