Introduction
Just as nature uses fractal patterns to build complex systems from simple rules, the Respect Game provides an elegant foundation for scalable, decentralized governance. Through this innovative social game, communities evaluate and reward contributions, building reputation that enables fair and engaging decision-making at any scale.
Democracy faces an existential challenge: as groups grow larger, they inevitably lose their democratic nature without fractal structures to maintain human-scale coordination. The Optimism Fractal Council demonstrates a powerful solution by using Respect - earned through weekly peer evaluation games - to enable truly decentralized governance that remains both efficient and enjoyable while resisting capture.
The Optimism Fractal Council implements profound insights from years of research into how communities can make better decisions through fractal processes. The Council serves as a critical testing ground, helping the Optimism Collective scale its governance through the Token House and Citizens' House while demonstrating how any organization - from local communities to global networks - can implement equitable decision-making processes that maintain authentic participation.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Overview of the Council
- Official Council Rules
- Impact Measures
- Significance for the Collective
- Critical Experimentation
- Benefits for Token House
- Benefits for Citizens' House
- Origins & Evolution
- The Roots of Optimism Fractal
- The Inception of the Council
- Videos Documenting the Council
- OF 13: Council Formation
- OF 14: Sages Signal
- OF 17: Hour Coordination
- Future Vision
- Get Involved
Overview of the Council
The Optimism Fractal Sages Council is a trailblazing governance body built around the Respect Game - a weekly event where community members evaluate each other's contributions in small groups to earn Respect, a non-transferable token measuring contributions to enable collective decision-making.
Through fractal democracy, it breaks large-scale governance into smaller interactive groups where meaningful evaluation and authentic engagement remain possible. This creates a model that can be adapted for any community seeking to maintain democratic principles while scaling operations.
Council Composition and Selection
The council consists of up to six community members who have earned the most Respect through peer evaluation in the weekly Respect Game. Each week, members who have earned Respect can opt into a registration poll for council slots, ensuring continual representation of active contributors. This dynamic selection process demonstrates how communities can maintain democratic refreshment while preserving institutional knowledge.
Function and Decision-Making
The council evaluates and approves proposals affecting community rules, software implementation, and strategic direction. Decisions require a two-thirds majority, reflecting robust consensus while enabling efficient operation. This structure balances broad participation with practical governance needs - a critical challenge for any growing organization.
Community Engagement All community members who have earned Respect can propose changes, initiate discussions, and vote on proposals in the Optimism Fractal Snapshot Space. While council members' votes are decisive for formal approvals, the process remains deeply collaborative, showing how large groups can make decisions efficiently without losing democratic participation.
The Optimism Fractal Sages Council exemplifies an effective governance model that leverages community respect and active participation. Its principles and processes are highly adaptable, offering a valuable framework for other communities using the Respect Game to guide their collective decision-making and strategic planning. This council structure is designed to provide an ideal solution for any group seeking a democratic and transparent governance system.
Official Council Rules
You can see the complete rules at OptimismFractal.com/details for the exact specifications and more context about how Respect is allocated.
6.1. Every week, during Respect Game meeting, a poll is created for participants to register to take part in the consensus process of Optimism Fractal next week. This is “registration poll”. Participants can register throughout the whole week;
6.2. Top 6 Respect earners out of those who registered in last week’s “registration poll” constitute a "council" for the current week (except during a Bootstrap stage);
6.2.1. A new council is activated at the start of a Respect Game meeting. Respect distribution at that moment is used to determine the council;
6.2.2. If fewer than 6 participants have registered, then council is smaller (consists only of those who registered);
6.3. A proposal is said to be passed by Optimism Fractal if at least 2/3rds of council members signal approval for it;
6.4. Proposals passed by the council can:
6.4.1. Signal opinion of Optimism Fractal community;
6.4.2. Make changes to the rules of Optimism Fractal (i.e.: rules expressed here);
6.4.3. Select software implementation of Optimism Fractal (i.e.: implementation of rules defined here - smart contract deployment, official frontends, etc);
6.4.4. Blacklist break-out group results (see 3.2.3);
6.4.5. Make changes to the current Respect distribution (burn existing or mint additional Respect);
6.5. Optimism Fractal does not have any control or any other kind of power over any participating parties;
Impact Measures
Since its launch to the end of Season 4, the Council has demonstrated the power of reputation-based governance through concrete achievements:
- ~35 community proposals evaluated
- ~250 votes from Respect holders
- ~36 weekly council selections
- Dozens of builders attracted to regular participation
You can verify these metrics in the Optimism Fractal snapshot space leaderboard. These achievements represent more than just numbers - they demonstrate how fractal democracy enables communities to make decisions efficiently while maintaining genuine participation.
Significance for the Collective
Critical Experimentation
The Council serves as an essential governance experiment for the Optimism ecosystem. This aligns directly with the Optimism Foundation's identified need for "more experimentation and clarity” regarding governance scaling. More details about this can be found in the article, Why Fractal Democracy is Necessary while pioneering practical implementations that prevent centralization and maintain engagement.
Benefits for Token House
- Demonstrates how reputation-based systems can enhance token-weighted voting
- Provides models for delegated decision-making that maintain decentralization
- Shows how complex technical decisions can be made democratically
Benefits for Citizens' House
- Offers proven patterns for scaling one-person-one-vote systems
- Shows how to maintain sybil resistance through peer evaluation
- Demonstrates sustainable public goods funding allocation
As both the Token House and Citizens' House evolve to handle expanded responsibilities, they need scalable systems that preserve democratic principles while enabling efficient operation.
Origins & Evolution
The Roots of Optimism Fractal
The Optimism Fractal Council emerged from years of research and experimentation in democratic governance. Its foundations lie in Daniel Larimer's "More Equal Animals: The Subtle Art of True Democracy," which provides a blueprint for preventing power centralization through fractal structures, and the ƒractally whitepaper, which demonstrates how these principles can enable communities to provide public goods and mutual aid through better coordination.
These theoretical frameworks have been refined through practical implementation by both Eden Fractal - a community pioneering these processes since 2022 - and the Optimystics team, who launched Optimism Fractal in October 2023. Together, they've demonstrated how combining peer evaluation games with fractal democracy creates governance systems that remain both engaging and democratic at any scale.
You can learn more about how Optimism Fractal and our democratic processes emerged from these initiatives here and discover more about our history in this article.
The Inception of the Council
The Optimism Fractal Council evolved from a 12-week bootstrap phase where initial governance and decision-making were managed by the Optimystics, the team that founded Optimism Fractal in October, 2023. This period was crucial for setting the foundational rules and procedures that currently guide the council's operations.
For a visual and detailed journey through this evolution you can watch this video, which documents the transition and the community's active involvement in shaping the council. You can also see the historical notes at the bottom of our intents to learn more and watch the planning session in following video to see discussions that led to the initiation of the consensus process.
How will optimistic communities coordinate their future? After a fun Respect Game we meet for the first Optimism Fractal Planning session and explore innovative mechanisms for collective decision-making ⚙️♻️
Videos Documenting the Council
The Optimism Fractal community has discussed the council system in many events and the videos of each episode provide an excellent resource to learn more about decentralized decision-making. The videos include show notes and timestamps where you can find the most pertinent discussions about the council. Here are a few videos that document the formation and early evolution of the Council:
OF 13: Council Formation
What is the best way to make collective decisions? After thoughtful social games, we debut an innovative consensus process and enter a new era of community-led governance with the first Optimism Fractal Council 🧙🏽♂️🗳️
OF 14: Sages Signal
How does Respect facilitate decision making? Following a respectful consensus game, the Optimism Fractal Sages Council approves it’s first proposal and we explore the roots of fractal cooperation 📜🍄
OF 17: Hour Coordination
How can communities synchronize? With Respect earned in onchain games, the Optimism Fractal Council approves a proposal to change the day of weekly events and set a new rhythm for decentralized coordination 🗓️ 🥁
Future Vision
Optimism Fractal Season 5 brings exciting developments in technical infrastructure through ORDAO (Optimistic Respect-based DAO) - a set of smart contracts enabling onchain execution of Council decisions. This system will work alongside our existing processes in a bicameral structure, with about 65 Respect holders participating in legislative functions while OREC (Optimistic Respect-based Executive Contract) handles automated execution.
But this is just the beginning. These tools and processes are being built as open infrastructure that any community can use. From local organizations to global networks, fractal democracy provides a path to truly democratic coordination at any scale. This aligns perfectly with Optimism's vision of a more equitable internet, while providing practical governance solutions that can benefit humanity broadly.
As the Superchain grows, these innovations demonstrate how communities can maintain democratic principles while achieving efficient decision-making. By perfecting these systems within Optimism first, we create patterns that can help upgrade governance throughout society.
Get Involved
We invite you to become an active participant in the ongoing development and refinement of the Optimism Fractal governance model. Here's how you can get involved:
- Join the Weekly Events: Participate in our weekly events to earn Respect and potentially join the council. These meetings are a great way to connect with the community and influence decision-making.
- Explore and Contribute on Notion: Have ideas for improving the council or the overall governance process? Visit our Notion site to explore and collaborate on potential improvements.
- Engage on Discord: Connect with other community members, share ideas, and stay updated on the latest developments by joining our Discord server.
- Register for weekly council selection through our Discord announcements and the snapshot space
Your participation not only helps steer the community but also shapes the future of decentralized governance across all various platforms.