[MUD-Dev] [MLP] The use of ecology models (was: NPC Complexity)

[Damion Schubert]

>From Sean Kelly:

> My objection to the spawn model is that it seems like someone took
> a LAN game designed for 10 players and stuck 3,000 people in it,
> then solved the "everyone will want to do every quest" issue by
> respawning everything regularly.  What's the point in doing
> anything if the quest will reset 30 minutes later?
 
> Still, it would be an interesting situation.  What WOULD players
> do if they knew monsters didn't respawn?  You might have guilds
> hoarding dungeons and cultivating them like gardens.  Or maybe the
> players would all just turn on each other, since the players will
> always respawn.  It would be an interesting social experiment.

Free idea for someone: I've always wanted to do a spawning system
where the spawn was controlled by 'monster generators' a la
Gauntlet.  For example, the game would randomly drop a 'spider tree'
someplace, and that spider tree would generate spiders that would
get bigger and badder the longer it was alive.  Players could go
kill the tree (or better yet, 'enter' the tree, go into a randomly
generated dungeon and kill the spider queen).  Doing so would
temporarily get rid of the threat.

I like it because it has very clear cause and effect, and it creates
very quest-like behavior.  The problem, of course, is keeping
excessive 'farming' of generators under control, but I think that's
doable with the right sticks and carrots.

--d
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