From http://forum.richarddawkins.net/viewtop ... 4&t=102839

Hive of Beecraft
by Robert Tulip » Sat Dec 12, 2009 7:22 am

Last night my son was playing the World of Warcraft online game. I suggested to him a new idea for an evolutionary scientific computer game, 'Hive of Beecraft' which I hope will be of interest to readers at RichardDawkins.net.

The idea is to find an enjoyable way to learn about the phenotype of a bee. Rules of the game are based on observation of bee behaviour and evolution. I thought about trying to patent and register this but would prefer to give it away in honour of the scientific accomplishment of Richard Dawkins.

Hive of Beecraft (potentially ® ™ ©)

A computer network simulation game, where the objective is to simulate the behaviour of a bee or other organism in the natural world in cooperation with other players also simulating other bees in the hive and related organisms. Modelled on World of Warcraft™, using Google Earth™ or other spatial program, and registered trademark Beecraft® skills and rules, the player learns all bee business, including searching, foraging, collecting, unloading, dancing, watching, feeding, cleaning, defending and all other hive maintenance and operation tasks. The game seeks to simulate the adaptive niche of a real or imagined beehive, with individual bees both computer-generated and player managed. Rules are determined based on observation of actual bees, aiming to build a healthy growing hive that makes a lot of honey and has steadily rising population, enabling colony swarms to other locations. A player can also play organisms which relate to the hive, such as predators and diseases, or manage a food or water source such as a meadow of flowers or a stream to encourage bee activity, or be a drone or queen. Players using a real earth satellite map will learn about the actual food sources for an actual beehive, and how and when to get them. Related games using these methods for other organisms can include Nest of Antcraft, Life of Termites, and equivalent for all social insects including wasps and hornets and other social animals such as fish, birds and humans.

My thinking on this was partly inspired by Howard Bloom in his new book Genius of the Beast, which uses bee behaviour as an example of the expanding and contracting rhythms of natural evolution. We are discussing Genius of the Beast at Booktalk.org

Robert Tulip
rtulip.net

That's a grand idea. I've been thinking about bee keeping for about a year now but have only taken the step of buying a book on beekeeping. The start up cost and the consent of neighbors is the only thing holding me back. I think before this next year is over I will have started my own hive.

I think a game involving prostitution is in order. It is, after all, the oldest profession and it has not gained the respect or attention that it rightly deserves. What about Herom of Punanicraft (potentially ® ™ ©)? In which you are a young destitute and highly promiscuous female whose ambitions and desires for wealth and sexual adventure lead you into a life of prostitution. The game begins roughly 5,000,000 years ago. You are an early hominid female and trade sexual favors for security, food, and dinosaur bone jewelery. The game progresses through the ages and in each time period you see how many other females you can convince to sell themselves while you take a cut of their earnings. In the time of Christ you are pelted with stones but if your sexual prowess points permit, Jesus actually saves you, and you have a chance to gratify him which has the added advantage of healing all your open sores. The game will be highly educational because it will teach history, business strategy, and sexual techniques popular among different time periods. Kids can learn about do-it-yourself abortions, how to identify sexually transmitted diseases and their treatments, and how to haggle with ladies over the price of their special gift that keeps on giving.

I also sought to patent and register this but since it's around X-mas time - I want to give it as a gift to all my BT friends!!! I also want to remind everyone not to be careless if you decide to do... well... don't be careless. lol

President Camacho wrote:That's a grand idea. I've been thinking about bee keeping for about a year now but have only taken the step of buying a book on beekeeping. The start up cost and the consent of neighbors is the only thing holding me back. I think before this next year is over I will have started my own hive.

I think a game involving prostitution is in order. It is, after all, the oldest profession and it has not gained the respect or attention that it rightly deserves. What about Herom of Punanicraft (potentially ® ™ ©)? In which you are a young destitute and highly promiscuous female whose ambitions and desires for wealth and sexual adventure lead you into a life of prostitution. The game begins roughly 5,000,000 years ago. You are an early hominid female and trade sexual favors for security, food, and dinosaur bone jewelery. The game progresses through the ages and in each time period you see how many other females you can convince to sell themselves while you take a cut of their earnings. In the time of Christ you are pelted with stones but if your sexual prowess points permit, Jesus actually saves you, and you have a chance to gratify him which has the added advantage of healing all your open sores. The game will be highly educational because it will teach history, business strategy, and sexual techniques popular among different time periods. Kids can learn about do-it-yourself abortions, how to identify sexually transmitted diseases and their treatments, and how to haggle with ladies over the price of their special gift that keeps on giving.

I also sought to patent and register this but since it's around X-mas time - I want to give it as a gift to all my BT friends!!! I also want to remind everyone not to be careless if you decide to do... well... don't be careless. lol

President Camacho for President! Just watch out for his policies about public health.

The busy bees at the entrance way to the Dawkins beehive moved my Hive of BeeCraft to The Book Nook. Here is what I have had to say there.

Thanks all for comments. I don't think it would be dull to be a bee. Howard Bloom's discussion of bee motivation in The Genius of the Beast makes it seem interesting, especially Saturday Night Fever on the dance floor. This game would teach the bee phenotype, while also giving the opportunity to visit flowering meadows and to find out the myriad tasks a bee must learn to keep the hive adaptive.

Computer games tend to be based on evolutionary logic, so mimicking real evolutionary logic in a game context is of scientific interest.

Objectives for this game are identified as the evolutionary goals of bees, ie how their extended phenotype enables their sustainability as organisms. Starting as an egg, there is potential to become a worker, a drone or a queen. Chances and strategies for these outcomes are set by the evolutionary stable strategy of the hive and its genes. As well, game objectives can include to rise to levels such as ant, wasp, termite or hornet, assuming the beehive is the first level.

too many bugs in the program

I don't think it would be dull. I remember playing a game called sim-ant. I loved that game and ants do the same thing over and over. When it's you vs. whatever - the game is fun. Controlling and building a fruitful population against pitfalls is always fun. Look at the success of the sim games. People love to play god.

Rather than playing God like in Sim City, you get to be a bee, and take a bee's eye view flying through the woods like a game character in World of WarCraft. I meant to put a capital C in Hive of BeeCraft to emphasise the design similarity to World of WarCraft.

The small c reminds me of where I grew up near Beecroft in Sydney. David Wales has a story of Guru Adrian, an eight year old boy from Beecroft who saved the world. My sister Libby Tulip gave me a Guru Adrian T-Shirt designed by David Wales: "Inner Space - The Final Frontier" for which I understand from David that the artwork may be lost. I think Guru Adrian kept bees at Ahimsa.

Sorry to mock intellectual property Camacho, but do feel free to explore my game knowing I will look for you when you feel guilty about it. Good luck with your hives and your avoidance of herpes. Merry Christmas.

What fun it would be to be a bee
Flying around from flower to tree
The hive alive will jive and thrive
on nectar, pollen and water.

Oh, I see. Either way the gaming world is prime for a bee game. I think it would be interesting.

As for Herpes, I'll be handing it out under mistletoe's free of charge.