Playing with society

Brian Logan has drawn my attention to an online game called Nation States. Users create a nation, define its political and economic outlook on various axes by answering a short political quiz, then guide its progress by responding to issues posed by the game. Kindof an interactive, evolving political quiz. If you're interested in playing, he has created a region, Zealandia, "for the purposes of politico kiwi bloggers to show how their philosophies are effective and make sense." Might be a way to waste another lifetime.

Though actually, having poked around the site, I'm more interested in its creator: Max Barry, author of Jennifer Government. I saw this book in Dymocks, read the blurb (an early version of which is here), and stuck it on my "to buy" list. It sounds like it has all the craziness of Snow Crash, plus the cool bits from Only Forward. And looking at his other novel, Syrup, it looks like I'll have to get that one too. <Sigh>... And I don't have enough time to read as it is...