Thanks, sounds interesting altho on first impression it doesn't seem too viable to mee. It reminds me if the "jury" some countries have, where a group of people decide, what to do with a alleged problematic person. Am not too sure thats the best way to do it.
And also the "I am not angry, just disappointed" vibe and love-starving seems a bit odd.
It seems hard to imagine in todays world. But maybe on a local level? In Switzerland we have communal-discussions and votes as local legislation, the other two state powers on communal level are elected. Thats enough politics for most people.
Valve is notorious for working on games and then not releasing them. There were several Teamfortress 2 versions which only got leaked and playable in the last few years. Similarly HL 3 was worked on several times since HL2 ep2. But due to the company structure and large scope/expectations for such a HL, first person singleplayer game, every attempt was scrapped at some stage of development.
I can recommend Tyler McViker and gabe follower for two great Valve-Journalists with many insider connections and both fid thousands of hours datamining the engine. Its probably where the article got its informations.