Schteemut, The Kingdom of Games, a Parable of Liberty and Control

Once upon a time in the land of schteemut (not steemit, at all, mind you) there were two young princes, Nedrick and Danrod. The kind King offered them the chance to start their own kingdom and the boys, being liberty loving princes, made some simple rules for their kingdom!

1. They created a special kind of treasure to be given as rewards in their kingdom. One kind of reward could be taken home by guests, while the other must stay inside the kingdom, or be taken in very small amounts.
2. They ordered that the kingdom should run on parties, every day and that the people could decide, what kind of games to play every day!
3. To divide their treasures among the people, they allowed them all to vote on which games were the very best and reward the creators of those games with even more rewards!
4. The more rewards a game maker had won, the more power they would have to vote! Or, they could bring the princes treasure to trade for more power in the voting.

The parties started and everyone was having such a wonderful time that soon, there were thousands, then tens of thousands of visitors coming and going from the kingdom and games were so plentiful they had to divide them into categories and set up many playing fields.

Some of the game makers became so skilled that they would leave every day with their horses and wagons loaded down with treasure, while others would show up day after day with games no one wanted to play.

This went on for some time until an especially clever lad, Yodaric, realized that if he could publish the rules of the best games, maybe his game guide would help the game makers whose games got little or no play!

And the gamers all loved him! They began giving some of their game votes each day, so that he was loaded down, little by little with treasure, and every day he would come again and hand out his guides to the last day’s best games.

It might have gone on like this for a good long while, but Nedric began to watch young Yodaric and think to himself, “This is not what I thought would happen when we built our party kingdom. I don’t like it.”

So he sent spies among the makers to ask what was thought of young Yodaric, they would ask, “Don’t you think it’s unfair that young Yodaric just shares your game rules with the people, he invents no games, yet he goes home with special treasure, almost every day, sometimes more than game makers?”

Most found Yodaric’s rule guides to be helpful in building their own games and were not bothered, but a few complained and asked Nedric to do something, since he had the power. So Nedric invoked a little used rule, called the prince’s downvote!

One day, as Yodaric stood, handing out his gaming guides in the usual way, servants from the palace appeared and walked over to where the treasure Yodaric had received that day had been collected. They took all but a few small pieces and, under protest, removed it from him, back to the treasure disbursement center.

“But, why?” Yodaric said, “I’ve committed no crime, in fact, I’ve studied the rules, they call for all manner of useful ideas that allow us to enjoy the games and encourage the creation of more and better games, and that’s what I’ve been doing.”

The servants carried Yodaric’s message to Nedric, who returned a message, written on a scroll. A crier read the scroll aloud.

“Let it be known that from this day forth, Yodaric’s guides will be downvoted by the Prince Nedric himself and all others may continue to do as they please. However, be it noted that votes cast in favor of Yodaric’s guides will be null, and treasure will be removed from him at the end of each day.”

Yodaric was frightened by this and immediately offered to stop publishing his guides, but hundreds of the kingdom’s people rose to his defense and cried out against the injustice.

So, while Nedric remained, aloof, concealed in the palace, young Danrod rode out on his royal steed to address himself to Yodaric. “Perhaps, Yodaric, if you only received a small portion of your treasure each day and returned the rest, this would appease Prince Nedric?”

But, being a student of the rules, Yodaric was quick to point out that there was no rule to allow for this, and in sadness, was forced to discontinue publishing the helpful guides, although the people begged him to continue.

“I cannot,” he said, “For fear my reputation will become sullied and those who bring treasure to me may find their games the victim of the royal downvote as well!” He announced.

Soon, more rules were made, making it impossible for established game makers to take more than a set amount each day, with new games being giving an advantage. At first this was fun. After all, there were many skilled makers who had created games that got no play.

But, when the unplayed games had been used up, new games were created of a lesser quality, that were not as entertaining and many started coming only every other day, then every three, and soon, not at all, so that what had been huge crowds, dwindled away to almost nothing.

The games, meanwhile, got looser and looser and lower quality games would win the day, taking home obscene piles of treasure, in the lack of competition for game creation. The players soon began to find that other gaming kingdoms were setting up, and many of their favorite game makers had move to them.

Yodaric was welcomed into the largest of these and his rules guides were a primary focus, giving rise to some of the greatest games ever seen.
Meanwhile, Nedric and Danrod were forced to go to their father, the king and ask him for additional treasure to lure their gamers back again, but it was too late.

Kingdoms with fewer rules, where the votes of the players truly set the standards had grown too large, and Nedric and Danrod were forced to close the gates of their kingdom forever.

The end