ARIA
I want to buy with the money I made from the irises. I think we should have a CD player.

MERIAH
No, I don't think so.

ARIA
Well, I would like one for my house.

ZEUS
You have more than enough money
to buy a CD player. But you still have to pay the ecological cost of it. And of the CDs. One-half Carbon and one-half Water for the player; another Carbon and a Water per 100 CDs. No transportation cost - you're sailing over to get them, right?

ARIA
Right. I'll get the player, and 25 CDs. That's three-quarters of a Carbon, right?

JEFF
Is that all? I thought it took like 6 Forests. That's why I didn't get a diesel boat.

ZEUS
No, the ecological cost is Carbons - because it takes energy to make the plastic and so on, and Water, because it takes water to make electronics.

JEFF
So I could have bought a diesel boat, and it would have affected them just as much as me.

ZEUS
Well, that's the thing about Carbon (dioxide). One person gets the benefit, but everyone pays.

CHRISTINE
How are my bees coming along? I have been taking care of my bees.

ZEUS
Good. You'll produce a quarter-Food of honey. And it's good food, too!

CHRISTINE
Can I make candles out of the wax?

ZEUS
Yes, you can. That's a great idea.

IVY
Are we going whaling again this year?
Jeff? Aria?

JEFF
I'll go whaling if I get half of the whale.

ARIA
Even though you're only
one-third of the people?

JEFF
Just half of the whale.

ARIA
No, no, that's not fair, we're
feeding four of the people.

JEFF
Then I'm not going whaling.

MERIAH
Neither am I, I'm going to stay here
with my land.

IVY
Aria and I will go then, see if
we can catch a big tuna.

JEFF
Well then, I'll just go look at some of your land while you're gone. I'm going to build a hotel on the southern part of my island.

MERIAH
No. Okay, fine, but don't take any land from my side of the island.

ZEUS
So what exactly are you doing, Jeff?

JEFF
I am going to harvest the two forests at the top of that island. Because it's not their island, it doesn't belong to anyone.

ARIA
You have to ask our permission,
or trade with us...

JEFF
No, that's the point, I'm just going -
I'm just doing it. Those two, right there.

MERIAH
Well, sorry, I'm standing guard there. You'll have to fight me, so too bad.

JEFF
Can we roll the dice to see who wins in a fight between us, because I want those - I need those for my hotels.

ZEUS
Conflict. Okay, here's what happens. I think half a Forest of wood gets cut...

JEFF
Half...

ZEUS
...and somebody's boat gets sunk.

MERIAH
Yes!

JEFF
My boat gets sunk?

ZEUS
The sailboat. Ask Meriah.

MERIAH
It's on the bottom.

ARIA
The boat sank? I helped build that boat... Because I think a sailboat is a good idea, actually. I think they're very handy.

JEFF
Well, I got a half-circle of wood.
I'll just build another sailboat. And then I'll build my hotels.

MERIAH
I'm not sure that boat will ever get built. And if he tries to build hotels, I don't think they'll be very successful.

Hey, can I move off this island, to another island that's uninhabited, by myself?

ZEUS
No. No, you can't move off this island, because this is the only one there is. Footprint Island stands for the Earth, you know. And Earth's the only island we have.

ZEUS SPEAKS

Commentary by Ken Eklund, moderator

The Footprint Island rules don't include any law or government. No one legally owns anything, and, unless a player states otherwise (and can enforce it), resources such as food are distributed equally. Any player may (try to) do whatever they like with any piece of land. It was interesting to see how the players handled this legal vacuum.

Jeff clearly took the lead in asserting ownership; almost at once he took a share of the lands and made his own island. He also made it clear he had complete control over resources on this island. In time, his idea of ownership extended to items he had helped build (like the sailboat) and finally to resources claimed by others.

The other players considered the big island to be a resource they held in common, but they also clearly saw the island as "theirs" and not Jeff's. At first, it was rare for one of the girls to alter a land without asking the others, but this changed in time.

Among the girls, Aria led the way when it came to using resources, but Meriah was queen when it came to claiming (and protecting) territory.

What is the lesson here? At first glance it appears the "tragedy of the commons" has struck Footprint Island, but it's more complex than that. It's worth noting that each player thought he or she was acting in ways that would 'save the island.' Jeff tried hard to bring the benefits of technology to the island, for example - even to people who expressly told him they didn't want them. Meriah opposed almost any change to the natural landscape - she enjoyed the simple life, and thought others should too.

The lesson is twofold: one, that people can have very different notions about what is owned and what is common, and any system governing resources needs to take that into account; two, that our beliefs about what is properly owned and what is properly held in common need to respect the facts. Jeff did not see that his land uses were driving the island toward disaster. Meriah did not see that some of the life improvements she opposed were safely possible. And I think everyone was surprised that the cost of breaking the community spirit got so high so quickly.

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The outbreak of conflict, coupled with a short growing season, eliminated a lot of the cushion the players had built. At year end, they had no surplus in food and had more than doubled their CO2 deficit. All in all, however, the players did a pretty good job in managing their island: they had surplus water, their quality of life was improving, and their contribution to global warming was still relatively small.

It's too bad that we didn't have time to play out Year Five - which is when another person comes to live on the island. When I mentioned this, however, the players unanimously agreed that they opposed that development - something to think about when the subject of global population growth comes up.