Real Lives 2004 - Living Other People's Normal Lives?

Thanks to USA Today for its article discussing an educational videogame which allows players to live the life of another person. The piece explains: "Real Lives 2004 starts by automatically generating a life based on current population and birth rate statistics", before explaining possible outcomes: "Our teen-testers were able to experience many different lives in just a few hours. One was a boy born into a poor family in Zhangzhou, China, who did not attend college or vocational school. As a mail clerk, our teen-tester faced decisions about gambling, alcohol and drinking... He found romance but had no children and he died at age 84 from cancer."

Comments

Awesome!

[SuperMo0]

I could live out the life of a /. troller without all of the associated social stigmas!

Re:Awesome!

[shadowcabbit]

Real Lives 2004 Patch History

Version 1.1, May 16, 2004-- Major bugfix to grpahics display options. "/. Troll" command no longer shows sexually explicit ASCII 'art'.

1.15, May 18, 2004-- "/. Troll" command now filters obscenity.

1.2, May 19, 2004-- "/. Troll" command now includes disclaimer. Disclaimer reads as follows:
"WARNING: Do not try this at home. Trolling can be hazardous to your karma. --CmdrTaco, Slashdot.org (please visit my site though)"

1.3 May 23, 2004-- "/. Troll" command reduced in power; trolling now provides 3 Happiness instead of 30.

1.5 May 26, 2004-- Fixed bug in "/. Troll" command that didn't penalize trolling. Trolling now provides 3 Happiness and -10 Social.

1.7 May 29, 2004-- Reports of real-life suicides has prompted us to remove the "/. Troll" command from Real Lives 2004. This command will not be reinstated in any further patch.

My go

[beders]

I got to be Commander Tacho andpost duplicate stories!

Man that was awesome...

I think Michael Zorek said it best with...

[Anonymous Coward]

"I wanted to meet stimulating and interesting people of an ancient culture, and kill them."

Like...

[Talith]

... my life isn't depressing enough...

Just by pressing "Age one year"

[gasaraki]

about 40 times and seeing the results, I've developed a strange bond with my family. The makers of this game are definitely onto something.

Thank Goodness!

[BlindMellon]

Finally! A game to make me "feel empathy for people in other parts of the world." Its about time! I was starting to believe that video games were for entertainment. From now on, I'm only buying titles from my new favorite publishers: United Nations, the World Health Organization, Amnesty International.

Oh, but "photos and graphics would make this simulation more intriguing."

Along with a couple bitchin guns.

Re:Errors

[orthogonal]

It's interesting that the 4 times I set myself up as a gifted student in america 3 out of 4 times I was pulled from school and ended dying of starvation... Doesn't really seem to fit the statistics.

The one time I actually made it through graduating with a phd in medicine the best job I could find was as a pottery maker.... Sigh

Oh, sorry, our fault. The version you downloaded was compiled with
-D OUTSOURCING_CONTINUES_AT_2004_PACE
and
-D GW_BUSH_RELECTED

This leads to the AMERICA_BECOMES_FEUDAL_THEOCRACY branch point being taken, and endemic neo-peasantry. At that point only the children of CEOs survive past the age of thirty.

For a successful game, please download the "India" module and select the "full scholarship to I.T.T." branch point.