About Living World

What it is

Living World is a long-running game concept created by Peter Fibæk. Its central question is simple to ask and rather less simple to build: can many small and large games help shape one lasting Earth while each remains enjoyable for people who only want to play that particular game?

The games do not share one giant interface. They share selected consequences through a central service that remembers history, checks incoming results, limits their influence, and gives each game only the information it needs. A light tavern game can remain a light tavern game; it does not need to display road wear, municipal taxes, and six centuries of grain policy beside the drinks tray.

Why it matters

The design gives very different players useful ways to participate. Someone who enjoys a two-minute sorting game can matter to the same world as someone who spends weeks planning a city. Their influence is deliberately small, bounded, and adjusted for population, so popularity or spending cannot turn one game into the unelected emperor of everyone else's progress.

What a player might experience

A player-run transport company may make trade much faster between two cities. Shops notice steadier supplies, city builders see demand for better roads, and a later era may inherit a useful route. If the transport player leaves, slower background transport keeps those games viable until another player improves the connection. Shared activity creates opportunity; absence does not become collective punishment.

Where it honestly stands today

The world, games, and central service are designs rather than live products. The immediate goal is a deliberately small prototype that tests whether these connections are understandable, fun, fair, and resilient before the project attempts anything resembling an entire player-built planet.