Education

Account Management

Citizen Model

For educational uses, Eco’s citizen model offers the possibility of controlling participating players and changing the game world. You start a private world and invite players (e.g. students). Those players, or citizens, are only able to play in your world, for the duration you choose. The standard duration is set to 30 days, but it is possible to buy monthly extensions. Each citizen account costs 10$, contrasting the 30$ standard license. You should roughly know how many players want to participate before you buy the accounts. Adding single accounts later is possible.

How to set up your Eco world

1. 1. First, you need to buy a standard Eco account to set up a world.
2. 2. The second thing you need for running your own world is server space. It is possible to rent server space straight from Strange Loop Games (15$/month) or other providers. You could also use your own PC for hosting a server but this will require it to be running constantly. For single time use in educational settings, we recommend renting server space.
3. 3. After obtaining server space, you have to download the server package in your ECO account and install/unpack it on the server. By starting ecoserver.exe your world is coming alive (for further settings see Recommended Server Settings).
4. 4. You can now contact [email protected] to order your citizen accounts. You will need to provide your Strange Loop Games ID (obtained when buying your ECO account), the number of citizen accounts needed and your email. Only payment via PayPal is accepted.
5. 5. In your Eco account you can now determine names and passwords for each citizen account in hosted worlds/citizens. You need to add the server ID (found in the file network.eco) to the world column.
6. 6. Players will be able to log in to accounts.play.eco/login and download the Eco client to start playing. Please read the system requirements.
7. 7. To join your world with your own ECO account you have to start your Eco client. In section your worlds, add your server by choosing the +-symbol above the server list. Now enter your IP-address or Hostname (usually with the Port 3000) and click join.

Recommended Server settings

The server manager to configure your world will open by starting ecoserver.exe. It gives you full control of your hosted world. For unexperienced players/hosts we recommend only changing the following settings:

• Network: The server ID for assigning your citizens to your world can be found here. Furthermore, you can choose public server to open (true) or close (false) your world for outside players
• Difficulty setting: Depending on group size and experience of players, choose low collaboration or no collaboration. This affects gained experience points, collected resources and other game parameters
• Disasters: Standard settings are generate meteor = true and meteor impact in days = 30. The game ends after 30 (real life) days with the impact of the meteor. For some educational purposes it might be better to change these settings.
• Localizer: Change language
• Pause: Pause the game time
• Other settings: With some experience you are able to change almost all game parameters. Some world settings can also be changed using chat commands in game.

Recommended Introduction

There is a comprehensive in game tutorial, which can be played multiple times. We advise you to play it at least once and familiarize yourself with the game before introducing your players to it. A joined starting session in person is helpful, to minimize frustration with beginners’ errors and encourage teamwork. Further sessions during and as conclusion can also be used as tools for structuring the experience. Even with no collaboration settings, it is hard to succeed in the game with no teamwork. Encourage your players to talk and strategize together. Shared settlements and division of labor are instrumental in repelling the meteor. Common playing times (e.g. during allocated school periods) can help your players in this.

Evaluation

You are able to save statistics (e.g. population growth, sea level, air pollution) of your world on your server. These are convenient for accompanying discussions and exercises.