I''m just curious if you''ve actually made a game before. The reason I''m asking is because you''re setting your standard very high and it''s a complicated one to finish. Start small. I''ve had this same idea and it would all be 3D with it being like real life, but then I realized with a small team (of 3 in my case) is still to high, especially for novice/nearing advanced game programmers. We decided to go against this idea for 2 reasons...

1. Our team was only 3 people.
2. Very complicated to add every feature of life into a game.
3. Server costs for a massive multiplayer game (DAOC spends around $20,000-$30,00 a month for their dedicated servers)

I''m not flaming you one bit, but maybe helping you. Once I set our goal smaller, we actually could see a game being finished.

-johnnyfuzz aka tony
-johnnyfuzz@aol.com

3 reasons ;]

You''ve got a point there Anonymous.

But you can start small. Also do not simply interpret this a a simulation of life in that it would simulate everything we can do here, as this is indeed a lot of work, neither have to do, like all the boring jobs we do in real life, this would be bad gamedesign.

The important thing here is how the world works. How you have build it up. This is NOT a MMORPG, although a gave it that name because the people interested in those online worlds of the future are attentive to the development of these MMORP4G as these are the closest we have until now.

This is simply an online world, that''s how they will call this in the future. As a designer you choose the setting, you choose how they enter the world, what they can do in the world. Simply the worldstate and the world proceses behind it And people interact with other people through your world, being motivated by what the possibilities are in that world.

So is this a big job? Depends on the level of detail you want to go into.

So, indeed as you state, because this is my first attempt to make a game, I should keep it simple and start little.

If you succeed in making the game with some people who want to invest there time into it for a share of the company, ..., entrepreneurial spirits, you can make a game without much investments needed. You can start little and expand your server park slowly by the income you gain. Once you are there in the beginning, and your game works and people like it you won''t have many problems to find cheap money to expand that business.

I think the important thing here is how you design your game. You sould design it from the ground up meaning with the knowledge of ''emergence'' in the back head.

There has been interesting research about ''growing artificial societies'' (http://www.brook.edu/dybdocroot/press/books/ARTIFSOC.htm)
because this is what we are going to do: Growing Virtual Societies!

So the question is: What simple elements and rules do we need to get started?

I forgot something to add concerning the viability of such an initiative to create an online world.

There are some tremendous attractive packages out there to shorten the development cycle. Check out Nevrax.org This is a 'free software' (meaning a GPL license, it's open source, you can use it and you can make money out of it, sell the service)
(The only thing you have to give back is that you make your source also open, that you ad the extra advantages you created to the source, distribute the source.

They also develop a game themselves that will come out by the end of the year. Basically we will have a tremedous good framework to build upon.

I think this is a fantastic model and will boost the quality of the games and variaty delivered probably quite well. This is what we gamedesigners and managers need, a programmer community around some open-source engine that you get for free.

If I can find people who could/woould want to work with this engine, because that's what I need for now (I've got a good artist already) than we can get started with the production.

[edited by - Marc De Mesel on June 4, 2002 7:54:32 AM]

Sounds like a game I''ve been playing.. you know, the one where you design a game that everyone else thinks is normal so that you are able to take over the world while everyone else is playing it.

DeClavier, what do you mean by this? I''m afraid I don''t get it. Is it a metaphor for the real world that you are using?

It was a joke highlighting the notion that we feel most in control when we feel that reality has been most systemiatically described.

Is skepticism of the world the real world I am operating in? Yes.

Do players get to pick their character''s gender at ''birth''?

Hi Moth,

Finaly some more action on this platform, thx!

Yes you would be able to choose your gender before birth (and your outlook, and your mother).

Do you like the game?

Marc,

It''s a bit too much like reality to suit my tastes. I just don''t see the point - but then, I feel that way about the Sims, too. Now, if you were to take the general ''life sim'' idea and apply it to an alien culture - animal or extraterrestrial or mythological or whatever - that would hook me.

The reason I asked about choosing genders... chances are, most of your players will be male. And most of them are going to want their characters to be male, too. Especially since sex and pregnancy are integral parts of the game. So you''re going to end up with several times as many male characters as female... which should make things interesting.