Insight can come from strange places. During my trip to the US, I was having a pleasant conversation with my mom about nothing in particular- you know, the kind of talk that you have when you’re driving through the countryside on a crisp fall morning with someone you really like and have no particular agenda. The topic of discussion drifted around a bit, and eventually landed on Puzzle Pirates. For those of you who don’t know, it’s an MMORPG* where people get online and pretend to be pirates… and my mom is a hardcore player. I, too, have a pirate, though I don’t play much because I am really busy saving the world. That, and my internet connection is really slow in Guatemala. Anyhow, it’s a way I can see my mom occasionally online, find out what’s up with her, and even play some games together.
Stick with me for the next bit. You see, in the Puzzle Pirates world, there is a giant ocean filled with islands. Players live on the islands, work on the islands, and harvest resources from the islands. Sometimes, large groups of players band together into navies under a strong Admiral, and sail their tallships around making war on each other. The main goal: ownership of the islands. The more islands you have, the more resources you can gain, the more money you make, the more ships you can buy, the more powerful your navy gets, and… the more islands you can have. It’s like an arms race, but for fun.
However, once upon a time, there was an island that had no buildings on it whatsoever. It was totally pristine: no farms, no mines, no sawmills. The navy that owned it chose to keep it that way, sortof like a nature preserve. They built up all their other islands to fund their war machine, and successfully defended it against all comers. A small navy would never have had the resources to defend it, since the island itself was a total liability from a mathematical standpoint: it produced nothing, but cost a bunch to maintain and defend. Why did they keep it? Because they thought it was pretty.
Fantasy imitates life. Desert islands, old-growth forests, national parks… when viewed through an objective lens, they are liabilities. But who can put a value on beauty? The US started its National Park system in 1916 and pours a pile of money into it every year. We are a rich nation, and can afford this “luxury”. But Guatemala, Kenya, Cambodia… these nations aren’t, and when push comes to shove, they oftentimes don’t have the means to defend what’s beautiful from strip miners, loggers, and special interest groups.
I guess that is the moral of the story. And the desert island in the game? The navy that owned it fought off invaders for a long time, but were eventually defeated, and their beloved island was wrested from them. The new owners were a little less concerned about the environment, and built “just a few” buildings on it. They soon lost control of it, and the following owners built a few more. With each new master, care for the environment slipped away. With each new building, the nature of the island diminished.
* For those of you over 40, that’s “Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game”