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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]
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War Stories | Ultima Online: The Virtual Ecology
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It's raisins that make Post Raisin Bran so raisiny ...
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Wednesday December 27 2017, @07:49PM (1 child)
Firstly, I agree with everyone else about the crappy interface for the transcript.
Their ecology system sounds cool. It sounds like they needed a larger gaming world so that the players became more sparsely distributed compared to the herbivores but I guess the servers of the time just weren't up to that. How about if they created badass shepherd / ranger characters that fervently defended the herbivores, easily taking out any average level player foolish enough to attack their flock? That way the players themselves would become part of the ecosystem.
Another option might be make it so the herbivores can run much faster than the players, though I can see with a high enough population density they would just run into the sword of another player, so how about they can run up mountainous slopes that the players can't get up?
Failing all that I suppose a bodge might be to have herbivores created locally that aren't seen by other players so only the current player can attack them but that would be a bit weird.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Thursday December 28 2017, @02:29AM
I, too, think they could have rebalanced with a few tweaks - like maybe an evolutionary thing: animals are afraid of players to varying degrees, initially a random distribution, but later generations would inherit that (and other) characteristics from their parents. Another trait for stealth/camouflage, and of course size/strength.
If players run around slaying the little friendly bears, sooner or later all that will remain are the big badass bears.
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