The Weighing of the Heart v2.0
Theme
Know thyself, know how your fellow Egyptians view you
Backstory
When you die, you will be judged on your acts during your lifetime here in Egypt, your heart must be weighed before you can go on to the Afterlife. All of us must prepare to rest our heart on the scales of Osiris. Most Egyptians prepare for this moment by having a mock tribunal amongst their peers, for to be denied by the gods is to not exist, ever again.
Practical Stuff
Regional Project-style building (like Sphinx) a large “Scale” with a feather on one end and the other empty.
Alternate: Use Essence of Harmony, you probably already have one and this *is* a harmony test after all.
Those signed up for the test will click the scale (or Essence of Harmony) and offer their heart to be weighed. All participants will need to visit a scale (or Essence of Harmony) each week to make their decisions, only participants of the test will be able to vote. This is a tribunal of peers also in the test.
First you will judge yourself, or judge how you feel other participants will judge you. (More on transgressions to come below.)
Then, each participant will see a list of Egyptians also doing this test. You will have a series of check boxes for each person where you will check whether or not you have witnessed them do or never do a certain transgression (more about the transgressions later.)
If you do not click any boxes for a participant it’s not counted and is considered that you didn’t know them enough to vote.
New The system will randomly select a group of 70%(?) of the voting pool for counting their votes (there are other ways to implement this random selection safeguard, but for now I'll suggest this one ~D)
The list of transgressions is up for negotiation but here are some basic ideas based on Ancient Egypt:
- Raising voice in anger
- Stealing
- Lying or asking someone to lie for you
- Destruction
- Betrayal
New Some other more game-specific transgressions can be included at our discretion, perhaps things like:
- Spamming
- Hoarding
- Not saltpetering date trees...
Test Results Options
True of Voice
If, you submit that you have commmitted no transgressions AND no one disagrees with you, you progress as True of Voice that week. If you progress in the test three weeks, as being True of Voice, as the ancient Egyptians called it, you pass the test. Note: If you go for True of Voice and fail, you do not progress that week no matter what, this is an all or nothing 'bet' for the week.
Progressive Pass
If you do not go for True of Voice passes, but still progress in the test seven weeks, you pass based on progression. Maybe you don't view yourself the way others do, or maybe you have some work to do to be ready for the Afterlife, but you have still progressed so good for you!
Comments
One concern I have heard has to do with people being able to game the test or intentially give poor votes to someone who doesn't deserve them, here is how I attempted to address those issues in the test's design:
- The judging on this test is similar to reason/critic so if there is a gaming flaw in this, it also exists in these other two tests. I think overall, it is difficult to game either of those tests and thus, this one also.
- My idea is to limit gaming by mules to only allow those signed up for the test to sit in the mock tribunal to judge other participants.
- Once you pass this test, you are out of the pool of judgers (similar to Coalition.)
Another concern I have heard is that this test seems too much like leadership instead of harmony, I disagree here's why:
- Although superficially this reminds us of leadership because we appear to be voting for or against people, on a deeper level this test is attempting to make us a more perfect society. We used to talk about making us a more perfect society all the time in Tale 1, I can't remember the last time I heard someone say that. This is an attempt to get back to that ideal, that goal. For me, I know that to be a better person I need to look at myself and say, "Hey, I could be doing this differently." Or maybe I think I am doing something that helps society but really my perception of myself is completely off. This type of tribunal is meant to help us examine our 'perfection' or lack thereof. I can see how this can be very off-putting for some but in the end I feel it is exactly where this game should be headed to get back to our roots, plus it's very Egyptian. :)
Opting Out
I think there should be an opt-out option like Demi-Pharaoh but I'm not sure how you all feel about it. As written there isn't an opt-out option, if you are signed up for the test you are participating as a judgee at the very least (it's up to you if you want to judge) and you stay in that state of activity until you pass or become in an inactive status (expired, quit, etc...) So I'd love some feedback on that ~Dreasimy
October 7, 2008 E! Harmony Test Discussion Topics
My interpretation of the Discussion feel free to make a note if you don't agree with the change listed, I put names next to the ideas I thought people agreed with changing
- No Instapasses (Singh, Asheara, Xerlux)
- Instead of Instapasses make True of Voice 3 progressions and regular passes 7 progressions (TheMazeEcho, BryceCicada, Dreasimy)
- Random selection of judgers count (TheMazeEcho, ellorin, Mayanah, Asheara, Dreasimy)
- Pass means out of judging again (singh, Dreasimy)
- Mentorship-decree-type feathers as an alternate to random selection judging option (Mayanah)
Links