And that’s pretty much what it comes down to for me;
Neither can I. I just have strong doubts about any programmer - not just someone at Wonderstuck - coming up with an algorithm that understands creativity, aesthetic value, beauty, and so forth. If they manage to capture that in Boundless, I won’t just be astonished, I’ll be questioning why they haven’t sold the algorithm onto Google for a fortune.
At least until super machine AI rule the planet, we have to rely on actual people to decide what they deem prestigious, beautiful - worth visiting.
My proposed idea below;
It has flaws, as mentioned by @luke-turbulenz, that players could potentially lobby for votes. Though I believe the current proposal (without player interaction) has a whole plethora of flaws of it’s own. I don’t think you’ll find a perfect solution to this problem - there will be flaws in any system you put in place, but I still strongly believe that subjectivity is the answer (or at least part of the answer)
Marry the two systems together. Have the algorithm make up 50% (for example) of the value, and the player ‘thumbs up’ account for the other 50%. That way players can make up their own mind about where they want to visit;
Block Prestige; 5,000,000
Likes; 800
‘Oh, that looks like a build worth visiting’
Block Prestige; 500
Likes; 8,000
‘That’s either some famous YouTuber setting up his plot, something funny, or someone who ‘bought’ their votes.’
Block Prestige; 10,000,000
Likes; 0
‘That’s definitely a stamped out template, or just a bunch of high prestige blocks stacked on-top of each other.’