[MUD-Dev] RE: Realistic Ecological Models, Differentiating Areas by Difficulty, and Socialization

[Damion Schubert]

From: Sean Kelly

> I agree.  However I'm speaking based on personal preference rather
> than the general case.  Also, I hope that players aren't so stuck
> in their rut of gameflow expectations that they would reject
> another model simply because it was different.  Hopefully, if
> implemented properly, a more realistic world could be created
> which also appeals to the average gamer.

As long as you realize that an average gamer does not put much of a
premium on the concept of a realistic world.  They are much more
concerned about concepts like 'fun', 'replayability' and, yes, to
some degree, 'predictability'.

> I agree that monster location impacts game balance, but I don't
> agree that this placement is immutable.  A properly done ecology
> might cause monster groups to migrate into new areas and drive
> weaker monsters (or players) out.  At the same time however,
> stronger players would be keeping pretty close tabs on monster
> movements so the conflict areas just migrate periodically.  And
> monsters migrating of course assumes that they can.  If the
> ecology were truely realistic, a monster could not invisibly
> migrate through, say, a defended mountain pass to magically appear
> on the other side.

The problem I have with dynamic ecologies is that they are a lot of
work for an outcome that typically is difficult to see the results
of.  For example, how long does it take to kill all the sheep?  How
long until the dragon hunting the sheep flies into the village
because he's hungry?  Are players going to put the causal
relationship together, or are they going to see a once-in-a-lifetime
dragon attack that could just as easily be attributed to a GM
summons as an ecological model?

I've tried to get these concepts to work multiple times, and where I
usually end up is that, in order to make a dynamic ecology work and
be fun, I have to remove a lot of the realism from it.  And that
realism is, for many ecology proponents, the whole point.

--d

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