Playtest running on Eco 10 right now, this is competing countries run by dozens of people each, which are themselves composed of towns runs by players separately. Really interesting to see the nation dynamics play out.

Designing the 'Towns and Countries' system for Eco has been a treat. So many things to consider. A thread:

The number of tax-evasion loopholes we have to make fixes for is hilarious. Players are at their most-creative when finding ways to avoid taxes, future 1%er's playing apparently. Latest tax evasion method: using currency exchange to transfer money without being subject to tax.

An achievement for winning an election should talk about the election, and can include your speech, and the results, etc. This way achievements also give a window into your personal story of playing Eco and will be extra meaningful players to view and share.

First part of achievements added for Eco 10. Achievements for players will work with Steam or without, and be displayed on a player's in-game profile with specific details about how they earned it, like this one showing the first item they sold:

For the law-junkies in Eco, coming in 9.4 is text formulas, letting you write script with variables in the laws to make calculations. In this video a player with two claimed plots and a law that taxes MessagesSent%5 * PlotsOwned^2 credits every time someone types a message.

Fun Eco update: Sea levels have risen on one of the official servers due to excessive CO2 levels. Not good for this particular homestead.

The Eco main server has used the law system to implement carbon credits, very creative use of the law-programming system and exactly the kind of thing I was hoping to see players invent. How it works: when the user performs a 'pollute air' action, it stores the

Eco launch for Asia, first stop Korea!

I implemented evictions in Eco, you can now get booted out of your house for not paying rent (fun!) in Eco 9.2.

I love putting un-fun things into games that by their system integration becomes fun. For example just added the ability to get evicted in Eco.

Coming in Eco 9.1! Elections with multiple provisions, including the constitution election. Now you can install a full government with one election. We're making this govt system allow for huge communities to govern themselves and how they play, super interesting experiment.

Adding multi-residency to deeds in Eco, soon you can share housing points with a roommate, with a penalty based on how many residents are on the property. 2 residents = 10% penalty, 8 residents = 90% penalty.

Today: fixing an exploit in Eco that lets players create a law that perma-bans players from the server if they don't pay their taxes.