# how to play republic of bob > my name is ossie ardiles king of midfield > check out my wares ye star shiny traveler and rejoice!" > ~ paraphrasing ozymandias (percy bysshe shelley 1818) perhaps like (/asking how to play) 'big science' it's played together but doesn't itself exist andor rather it exists - as an idea - and has a reality - albeit a virtual one here are some ideas for republic of bob: **+** an artist collective / label and 'imagination network' **+** a social thought experiment and relaxing communal pastime **+** an open source shared artistic universe / vibe media ecology **+** an alternative internet ('ice-cold luxury aesthetic lifestyle') rather than exist be the next-big-thing arrive with key benefits the notion of '#rob' solves a non-existent problem by being merely **imagined** - a simple community based prop; a chill abstract creative sandbox fiction which appears whenever people **_pretend_** to consider it; a small strange (/play) state or theatrical pastime to mash up remix and share what's found online each day and then pretend it's from or via a vast imaginary high desert republic - or just treat the entire current internet as an alternative space in which to help spread the idea that a different better weirder internets is possible and already happening - a whole virtual luxury lifestyle to explore and enjoy to join a growing community of fellow researchers visitors and local residents who share similar interests and outlook mere dumb destructive tourism however isn't possible in the republic as the climate is impossibly harsh on the incurious inartistic passively consumeristic and voyeuristic general policy: kindness and intelligence reciprocated among fellow adventurers // republic of bob