[DGD] Object house-keeping and persistance

[Jas]

Stephen Schmidt wrote:

>Hm. But the second law of thermodynamics? Should one allow
>for entropy, that is, the quantity of -usable- energy in
>the game universe to decrease?
>
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>

My take on entropy is that the word "usable" should be replaced with the 
phrases "we're not entirely sure how we can tap into it, at this point 
in time and with our existing technology and with our current 
understanding of the universe, so it's currently not usable to us."

Nature finds a way of recycling.  I believe that if human beings manage 
to survive as a species for a few zillion more years, we might just 
witness some of that "unusable" energy trickling back into circulation.

But that's a bit off topic, so we'll leave that to debates between grad 
students.

For the sake of *relative* simplicity while talking about game 
mechanics, let's temporarily assume that all matter and energy is available.

>Of course, that could be problematic from a player standpoint.
>"Welcome to Heat-Death MUD! See if you can make level 20 before
>the universe achieves a uniform distribution of energy!"
>
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And that is a bad thing... how exactly?  Oh, you WANT people to survive 
in your universe.  Uh, okay.  Never mind, heh.

Semi-seriously, as it can be argued that all human beings are world 
citizens each responsible for doing our part to save our shared 
ecosystems, so it could be argued that every player in your mock 
universe has a role to play in reversing whatever impending cataclysm 
you have in store for them (or that are a natural consequence of poor 
resource utilization and/or environmental management).

Something like that could easily be worked into the game much like a 
quest, but on a grander scale.  Make finding a prevention or cure for 
whatever current environmental disaster is ravaging (or planning to 
ravage) the universe be the final task to complete before giving the 
player additional powers and/or responsibilities upon reaching levels 
traditionally reserved for wizhood and coding access.

If they get nothing else from completing the quest, they'll gain a 
better understanding of how the matter and energy in your simulated 
universe is tied together in a delicate balance.  That might not be a 
bad lesson for your up-and-coming developer/management staff to comprehend.

Of course, I still don't know if I'd let people code; just because they 
can macro the crap out of your mobile programs, doesn't mean they can't 
also bring your game to its knees once you give them an editor and the 
ability to load objects.  This is all in the context of a 
player-alterable persistent universe where we'll assume that matter and 
energy can neither be created nor destroyed, of course.  And that 
entropy is (temporarily) ignored or overlooked, for relative simplicity.

>True, although for testing purposes (which is what I think
>the original question was about) you might need to have a
>separate stash. Otherwise you would have to do warning
>messages like:
>
>** All Players: The Wizard Oppenheimer is about to test his new
>** object, "Nuclear Pile". He is requisitioning 74% of the world's
>** available energy to test this object. Please lie down and don't
>** move until the test is complete.
>
>  
>

The solution to that "problem" is easy:  make your game universe large 
enough at the get-go to provide enough matter and energy for players AND 
developers for the entire anticipated lifetime of the game.

>That is, things which are happening outside the game world
>(ie, in the wizard's workroom) should not use the game world's
>matter and energy; either they should bypass the matter/energy
>rules or they should have an independent source (which can
>be increased as needed).
>
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Instead of giving your developers a traditional 
workroom/castle/whatever, give them a planet or a star or some other 
cosmic object (physically separate from the players) to maintain their 
source of matter and energy.  Let them be so many trillion years more 
technologically advanced than the players in your universe, so they've 
developed ways of tapping into the previously-unusable energy from entropy.

Human beings are always talking about how life from other planets or 
solar systems is likely so much more advanced than we are, 
technologically, so it wouldn't be that much of a leap of faith for your 
game management staff to fall into one of those categories.

>Also, one probably needs to have some ability to increase the
>world's supply of matter/energy as the player database grows;
>that violates the persistance idea to some extent too, but
>if one doesn't allow new players to join, what's the point?
>Eventually the player base would probably reach a steady
>state, solving the problem, but in the growth phase prior
>to that steady state, adjustments would be needed.
>
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And the solution for that would be.... ?  Don't start your universe with 
a tiny source of matter and energy to begin with.  Make planets and 
stars and entire galaxies available to provide matter and energy.

Granted, you don't want your players to necessarily have immediate 
access to ALL of those resources, so make them difficult to reach beyond 
the planet they're currently on.  Much the same as we can't seem to keep 
a Mars rover from tipping over or losing communications with our 
scientists and engineers here on Earth, players in your simulated 
universe might encounter problems of their own while attempting to 
explore or colonize planets or systems beyond their own.  Terraforming 
should not be made easy, if you want your game to have any decent shelf 
life.

>Steve
>
>  
>

Cheers,
Jason D. Bourgoin
aka Katmandu


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