Ask HN: What are some things you learnt from a game that changed your life?
I played an online MMORPG called &quot;Anarchy Online&quot; (AO) while in my early twenties, probably for a little bit more than a year. At a dinner with friends, I started talking about the game and why I liked it.<p>During that discussion, I came to the realization that even if I did absolutely nothing &quot;productive&quot; in the game, I always had access to food, clothes, health services and shelter. Things were organized in a way that I had to work (kill monsters&#x2F;bad people, harvest, salvage, heal, repair, etc.) to get money or more direct rewards. For example, clothing and homes were standardized and quite basic. I could &quot;work&quot; to actually get access to a better home and good-looking clothes to customize my avatar. Still, I could decide to do nothing, wander around, watch stuff, and still have my &quot;avatar&quot; alive and well. Anarchy Online gives all users access to a set of basic universal services that include shelter, food, education, health, etc.<p>~700&#x27;000 users playing this universe quite intensively on a daily basis (at that time), would you think they just did &quot;nothing&quot; and sat down?<p>During that same dinner, I became conscious that this could be a reality. I learned later that I was getting introduced to the concept of universal income (UI).<p>I started reading about it, talking about it around me. I quickly noticed two things:
1. People around me thought (and still think) it&#x27;s an impossible&#x2F;unsustainable model, although there is an increasing amount of research supporting it could be sustainable.
2. Most countries &#x2F; States that tried UI implemented it as a monthly paycheck given to citizens. I honestly tried understanding why people absolutely want to implement this as a paycheck.<p>In 2020, we voted about universal income in my country. It was widely refused (78% no). Political parties successfully scared &quot;us&quot; into believing that UI would decimate the country&#x27;s economy and put everybody into unemployment. It worked.<p>Today, I am still amazed that I have to work to get money to pay for the most basic things I need to stay alive. I do not think I should get a &quot;paycheck&quot; to get food and shelter. I am not sure the game taught me something that is actually possible, but it showed me an alternate model of society, which I still often think about and do not see as &quot;impossible&quot;.