[MUD-Dev] Player malleable worlds (was Expected value and standard deviation)

[Crosbie Fitch]

From: Daniel.Harman at barclayscapital.com

> Oh come off it, the average player is utterly incapable of
> creating content anyone but their mum would be interested in. Even
> professionals frequently get it wrong.

> Enough hand waving, someone show me some compelling auto generated
> content, or compelling player generated content in a commercially
> viable game.

Look at Age of Empires, Sim City, or any other game that involves
building.

As for 'compelling' (that word so beloved of salesmen), well why
must the town I help build be compelling? One can have ramshackle
shanty towns that serve a purpose, but if a town's creators fancy
attracting further residents perhaps they'll try and figure out how
to make it 'compelling'.

Did the pioneers of North America cross the plains and then say "Fop
this for a game of soldiers - this was meant to be compelling. There
ain't no cities paved with gold here. Let's go back to the east
coast"?

Imagine an empty 3D world. Terraformed, but no buildings, no sign of
human habitation.

Define rules that enable players to chop trees, manufacture wooden
building components, collect boulders/mine stone, manufacture walls,
etc. Component assembly rules permit playes to construct buildings,
walls, towers, forts, houses, piers, roads, boats, etc. These
buildings are governed by physical rules (or approximations).

Define rules that enable players to interact (fight, trade,
serve/subjugate, etc).

Define rules that enable players to tax other players (in terms of
raw materials). Enable hierarchical chains of command.

Survival? Ascension? Feudalism? Politics?

Seems pretty compelling to me.

But then I've not just described a MUD or RPG, but a virtual world.
Something that is created and destroyed by the players, just like
our own world.
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