This website features 3 simulation games of increasing difficulty involving the management of shared planetary resources and a discussion of how Halien civilizations achieved sustainability on each type of planet. Each round, you and three other players will choose how many resource units you want to take, which determines your relative standards of living for that round. You may take the same amount you took last round, 1 less or 1 more. The player (or players in case of a tie) with the highest take collects a point for the round.

Level 1: Planet R with Regenerative Resources Only

Planet R only has regenerative resources represented by its biosphere. Imagine your play is representative of one-fourth of the planet’s inhabitants. Each round, the biosphere can sustainably yield resource units equal to half its current size, which the players can take and consume. The units your group decides to take each round will come FIRST from the sustainable yield and THEN, if necessary, from the biosphere itself.

The biosphere will quickly become depleted if the group takes more than the sustainable yield. It can recover from partial depletion if the group’s take is reduced to less than the sustainable yield, however it cannot get larger than its initial size. The game ends when the biosphere and players’ takes are stable for 3 rounds in a row, or if the biosphere is completely depleted.