[MUD-Dev] MMORPG, buildings, is it bad to be just props?

[Marian Griffith]

In <URL:/archives/meow?group+local.muddev> on Wed 19 Feb, ceo wrote:
> Damion Schubert wrote:

>> So I guess my take is: by all means, make a fully interactable
>> town, but keep player traffic patterns in mind when you lay out
>> the thing, with a real eye for what players truly value.

> ....or make the layout dynamically self-re-configuring :).

It would be interesting to see what would happen if the 'city'
started charging both NPCs and players who peddle their wares
according to the quality of the location.  I.e. as the number of
players that pass through a certain location grows there is also a
higher tax on each sale made through that location. And of course
there would be more vendors drawn to that location.  The effect
would most likely seriously annoy the players but I think it would
be most interesting to see what happens.

> IRL it's painfully obvious that commercial centres are anything
> but static: I don't know how many good examples there are in the
> US (where my historical knowledge is I'm afraid very patchy) but
> trade-towns and cities in Europe have been so mobile they
> practically have legs.

Actually, this is much more visible in recent american history than
in Europe. Consider the many ghost towns, gold rush cities and
obsolete cities that depended on a single factory that then
folded. Many parts of Europe are too crowded nowadays to really see
this effect, though truth be told, on an immense scale you can see
it happening this past decade in former eastern germany where the
local industry can no longer compete and completely vanishes,
leaving entire cities without source of income, which is quickly
followed by the younger population leaving for the western half of
the country.

Marian
--
Yes - at last - You. I Choose you. Out of all the world,
out of all the seeking, I have found you, young sister of
my heart! You are mine and I am yours - and never again
will there be loneliness ...

Rolan Choosing Talia,
Arrows of the Queen, by Mercedes Lackey


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