Description
My face of the pyramid, the Carnival, is dedicated to interactive rides
and amusements.
On the surface it's simply a place to have fun. The boardwalk offers entertainment to all for the price of a ticket or two. For a few more tickets those who are (at least) astrally immersed can enjoy the various stomache-churning rides made possible by a VR environment.
On a deeper level, the Carnival is also about interacting with life.
Passive entertainment has become a highly evolved art form, whether its medium is TV, books or music. I have no gripe against this. Evolution is good.
Active entertainment needs to catch up though. It hasn't yet because it requires far more energy from the entertained. On the other hand its also far more rewarding. Where passive entertainment fill up the cup of our inspiration, active entertainment lets us flex our creative muscles and encourages them to grow.
By it's nature though active entertainment isn't easy. There's a huge gulf between sitting quietly in the audience and boisterously taking center stage. The Carnival exists, in part, to bridge the gap between the two forms. Rather than trying to shake the audience awake all at once, it exists as a lure to tempt them into waking on their own.
And, in the end, if some choose to remain asleep and simple enjoy it's passive elements that's okay too. At its heart the Carnival is about having fun, so what's really important is that people simply enjoy themselves.
Tickets
Although used as a form of currency, tickets are free to anyone who enters
the park. When you walk through the entrance gate you get a roll of 12 along
with a hand stamp which confirms that you're allowed in.
Each ticket has an old-fashioned "ADMIT ONE" side and a techy, humorous ad on the other. None of the products advertised are real though, at least not yet. Instead, each is an 'Adept item that I'd love to create in the mundane world without Paradox turning me to jello. The ads may not bring aboutthe common paradigm's acceptance of these items all on their own but each little bit helps.
To get more tickets a visitor can either go back to the main gate for another roll of 12 or play a scavenger hunt game to locate the caches that are hidden throughout the park. The hunts range in difficulty from absurdly easy to as challenging as I can create and still perceive any measure of fairness in them.
Tickets are also given to anyone who adds something of value to the Carnival. Be it a new coaster design for "the Rolling Cliffs of Hurls" or a new flavor of hot dog for a vendors booth, any addition will generate several tickets as a reward. If the addition passes a review (a.k.a. inspection by me) it'll even be added to the Carnival's general "menu" of options.
The Carnival's Layout
The external view of the Carnival is that it hugs the steps of the pyramid
in an impossibly dense conglomeration of bizarre rides, tents and flashing
lights. Once inside the view changes though. The main street is broad and
somehow everything seems to fit easily. Despite the crowds there is plenty
of room to walk and breath thanks to the flexibility of virtual space.
Physically, the Carnival divides into 4 main areas.
Ground Level
At the base of the pyramid, on the ground plane that stretches out to the
edge of domain stands the entrance gate to the Carnival. Light bulbs in the
shape of arrows are embedded in ground and lead to the main gateway for most.
Special guests are led to a side entrance that is accessible only with the
proper pass.
The one noteworthy feature to the ground level (apart from the domain's external defenses) is the heavy steel cap near which no arrows pass. Any visitor moving in that direction is met by one of the many maintenance men who sweep and keep the Carnival's exterior tidy. In polite terms the maintenance man will explain that the iron cap covers a dangerous area and that none are allowed near it.
Failure to comply with the maintenance man's request (or any sort of abuse of the maintenance man) results in an assault by security. In this case security takes the form of a gang of clowns who emerge from under flag stones like the creeping terror all children know them to be. The clowns promptly scan the offender's N-gram (mental pattern) and boot them from the domain by way of a teleportation Hula-Hoop.
[Implementation Note: What actually occurs here is that a Correspondece based 'Dislodge' program runs which removes the offender from the system. Targeting and discrimination is trivial in this case since there's an easily applied law: anyone unauthorized to mess with the iron cap gets booted, period.]
Once removed from premises the offenders N-gram is registered with the main domain defenses and with those of the rest of the pyramid so that they will not be allowed back in unless unblacklisted by someone with access to the Tower.
The People
A carnival empty of people is a sad sight, yet at present there aren't
enough 'Adepts around to make attendance all that great. Fortunately software
can be people too - at least background people.
A variation on the standard Digital Dollz, the Folkz I use are programmed to react to both visitors and the attractions of the park. They each have histories [I-Note: places of birth, jobs etc etc.] , preferences and opinions to offer. Any of them can serve as a guide to the park although most will simply lead an inquiring visitor to one of the staff for guidance.
The Folkz of the Carnival break down into two basic catergories: Staff and Tourists.
Staff Folkz
The Staff Folkz include the Janitors, the Ride Operators, the
Boardwalk Entertainers, the Boardwalk Barkers and Security.
The Entrance
The Boardwalk
The Rides
Defenses
Precautions
Shuttles
Guest Invites