[MUD-Dev] The Virtual Ecology

[Brandon J. Rickman]

On Mon, 26 Jul 1999, Greg Miller wrote:
> "Ilya, SCC, Game Commando" wrote:
> > In short, I think the system can be made to be at least somewhat self
> > correcting.  This may mean that the self-correction includes starvation
> > for the playing community!  Of course this may mean the person who 
> 
> Potential problem: The check in real life to the elimination of too much
> prey is an elimination of some of the predators. If the predators are
> paying customers (or if you just want a large player base), predator
> die-offs (that is, players quitting your mud) could be problematic. :)
> That limits your ability to implement any sort of player "starvation".

I meant to reply to this quite a while ago (back in July) - I find this to
be a truly brilliant observation.  This means there is a kind of positive
feedback in operation within the struggle-for-resources genre of
commercial multiplayer games: more players results in more prey, which 1)
attracts more players if it makes the game easier and 2) lures more
players into the predator role, because it is easier than the alternative
occupations.

- B!




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