So, indeed, RPing is often competitive, and rightly so. You are involved with what you create; you have plans and aspirations, goals and investments - why would you want anyone else messing it all up? Yes, there are often challenges, but they can generally be overcome, and when you RP, though ups and downs come with the domain, it's often what you achieve, rather than what you don't that you enjoy.
But losing is also an integral part of it; how can there be victory without loss? Advancement without contemporaries being left behind? If something is black, then there must be something that is not - white, for example - to compare it against, else, isn't everything black?
So, what if we removed that element? Because aren't the greatest victories celebrated, no matter who achieved them (assuming you're unbiased)? Isn't it often longevity, or a colossal loss like death, those things that we enjoy interacting with and experiencing in our RPing?
I'd like to put this out as a probe for people who would be interested in RPing a situation; perhaps with characters, maybe groups, maybe huge nations, and perhaps in prehistory, perhaps in the Age of Exploration, perhaps in the near future, but most importantly, in a way where everything that happens is agreed with everyone else, or at least will not cause annoyance to anyone. Essentially, it'd be like that oft-used description of RPing; cowriting. Except here, it's cowriting in its purest, most original form. Yes, there are RPs that go near this kind of concept, but I don't think any that have started off shooting for it immediately.
What do you think? What setting should we have, what should we represent if anything at all, will this work, would you come along for the ride?
I don't believe I've ever seen an RP in which it's been explicitly, completely stripped away. I'd like a big group to help refine such a (currently) abstract concept.
