politics and world rationalization

William White [email removed] writes:
> main objection to the UWP generation sequence,
> all considerations of culture aside, is that, economically, some
> results are hard to justify.  I don't dispute that here.  But I
> do suggest that economic behavior exists within a political
> framework -- that is, a structure of regulations, laws, and power
> struggles and imbalances.  By attempting to rationalize some
> apparently illogical results within a political economy
> framework, the referee can "flesh out" the underpinnings of a
> world or a subsector and make it more real, interesting, and fun
> for his (or her) players.

I was somewhat astonished at the timing of this article, being that
I'm currently mulling over this very subject in anticipation of
releasing yet another program (this time a sector generator, or rather
set thereof).

Anyway, a little over a year ago, we had a long discussion about
the problems in basic mainworld generation (pgs 24 and 25 of the
megatraveller ref's manual). And needless to say, I was in favor of
route #1 (change the damn system) whereas others were in favor
of route #2 (rationalize the inconsistencies). I really have nothing
new to add on this topic, except to say that I've just put a
transcript of the old discussion up for ftp. Feel free to take a
look at it, and if you do, let me know what you think.

The node: ucrengr.ucr.edu (138.23.166.21)
The directory: pub/trek
The file: tml-93feb

           _   /|       Jim Vassilakos
           \`o_O'       [email removed]
             ( )        [email removed]
              U         Riverside, California, USA