ArsTechnica has a very interesting video (with transcript) that features Richard Garriot, co-creator of Ultima Online, discussing the virtual ecology of the game and how it went pear shaped as soon as the game was released.
When creating Ultima Online, Richard Garriott had grand dreams. He and Starr Long planned on implementing a virtual ecology into their massively multiplayer online role-playing game. It was an ambitious system, one that would have cows that graze and predators that eat herbivores. However, once the game went live a small problem had arisen...
Source: http://video.arstechnica.com/watch/war-stories-ultima-online-the-virtual-ecology [Ed-Requires ecmascript]
(Score: 4, Informative) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday December 27 2017, @06:26PM
I clicked through and saw the video and it was, while a little slow to develop, mildly entertaining - if predictable.
Incase you're too paranoid to consume the content but still interested in the message, it's this:
Players kill everything.
No amount of "rebalancing" or "incentivizing" could change the behavior of Ultima players - when they encountered a living herbivore or predator, they would kill it - which made it impossible to establish a balanced ecosystem.
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