I’ve always been fascinated by virtual worlds. runescape is the largest active shared virtual world on the internet. It has over 300 million accounts and 200-300k people playing concurrently at any given time.

Currently thinking what can be learned and applied. I see social networks as a shared virtual world, just without a graphics engine or coordinates or loot (yet?)

one important aspect of #osrs is that you can leave and come back without feeling like you are behind or missed anything. The game respects your time and lets you progress at your own pace.

Progression is key, for people to invest time they need to feel like they could be making progress/leveling up somehow. but not feeling forced to on a schedule is the important thing.

Follow counts, like counts, and zaps are variants of that… a lot of people treat networks this way, gaining followers = leveling up.

Life is all a game in the same sense. Everyone wants to make more money, gain more status, gain more power. The urge to feel like you are progressing is a powerful force to tap into. Praise dopamine.

Anyway, thanks for coming to another fever dream insomnia post. gn 😴