[MUD-Dev2] [Design] [REPOST] Food in MMOs

[Michael Chui]

On 5/16/07, Matt Chatterley <matt.chatterley at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> As previous threads have undoubtedly shown, I have a bit of a thing for
> economic simulation elements in games - and it seems to me that there
> might
> be an opportunity to integrate food/drink into these elements. However,
> lets
> start from first principles and look at why we eat and drink in the real
> world:
>
> 1. If we don't, we get sick and eventually die.
> 2. It's a social event.
> 3. It tastes nice.


[Snip]

In terms of socialising, there will undoubtedly be communal places to eat
> and drink (or get drunk), and I'm sure we could work some entertaining
> passtimes into these settings - perhaps even some with a gain to players -
> armwrestling leagues, etc.


I can speak from experience that this does work. I've never understood it
myself, and I've never quite been able to get into RPing a night in the
tavern, but I know that other people do. But I play a text-based game
(Simutronics' Dragonrealms), so the audience is pre-biased niche. I can't
guess how that would play out in a more mainstream audience, but I think
it'd go over well. Especially if, see below.

We can't really pick up on the gourmet attitude, although we can push
> players towards the higher end of a quality scale by suggesting this helps
> them in their mission to keep health above "normal".
>

Actually, I think we can. I have to disconnect the system from the others
first, but how about if you have a sense of taste that develops? The more
you sample food, the more you can distinguish the finer aspects of food.
Same applies to drinks, different brews, aromas, etc. I don't dare dip into
the technical details, but this is a ladder of achievement that people might
enjoy in and of itself.

Reconnecting back to other systems, you might be able to use this finer
sense of quality in order to let people create buffs/unbuffs/poisons based
on the quality of foods. Granted, this all seems to hinge upon being able to
create food, but... what can I say? =)

-- 
-Michael Chui
The Information School
University of Washington