xG00BERx

I was reading the Wiki for Ultima Online and I found something that I found was super interesting and would have been or could be an amazing system if we added it.

Artificial Life Engine
Starr Long, the game's associate producer, explained in 1996:

Nearly everything in the world, from grass to goblins, has a purpose, and not just as cannon fodder either. The 'virtual ecology' affects nearly every aspect of the game world, from the very small to the very large. If the rabbit population suddenly drops (because some gung-ho adventurer was trying out his new mace) then wolves may have to find different food sources (e.g., deer). When the deer population drops as a result, the local dragon, unable to find the food he’s accustomed to, may head into a local village and attack. Since all of this happens automatically, it generates numerous adventure possibilities.

However, this feature never made it beyond the game's beta stage. As Richard Garriott explained:

We thought it was fantastic. We'd spent an enormous amount of time and effort on it. But what happened was all the players went in and just killed everything; so fast that the game couldn't spawn them fast enough to make the simulation even begin. And so, this thing that we'd spent all this time on, literally no-one ever noticed – ever – and we eventually just ripped it out of the game, you know, with some sadness.[14]


 
Sounds like something that can be easily modified as an extension of the BaseAnimal set of code released on RunUO.
 
I was talking about this on irc one day,. it's amazing how many people didn't know that they were designing UO with a single player mindset placed in a mmo space. Moronic people just turned into savages and decided it was more fun to kill kill KILL then to enjoy the world around them and immerse themselves. I guess this is why we have more linear games then non linear. people need boundaries or they get power hungry and start trying to take over the world. Or at least kill it one rabbit at a time.

Anyways,.. I have started working on an AI system that allows npcs to have personalities,. likes and dislikes if you will. In the T2A primas guide it lists a slew of things that monsters and animals do and don't like,. for example an alligator likes rotten logs in the swamp, but dislikes the city. So i've been trying to get alligators to seek out the static of a rotten log in the swamp and hang around it. If they're near cobble stone they'll wander away from it. So far my testing has been seperate from xml spawner but i'm considering making it an addon for xml spawner. This is a personal project so it may never see the light of the forums but who knows maybe i'll want to show it off someday.
I already have dragons that wander around, fly at mount speed and kill animals then proceed to eat them.(cut the corpse and destroy the meat and some hides)

Fun stuff:D
 
Really, the concept is awesome, but to implement something like that would be nearly done in vein, as the original crew found out.
Of course ultima was always a single player game prior to the online version, so its no mystery that they still had that mind set in the begining. Much of the original ideas and systems were scrapped simply because they had no clue how it would work out with mass players. Like the interaction with npc's, that use to be a staple to the game to figure out what to do and where to go next.. slowly faded away to near non existance.

I think for that system to work out, you would need some sort of 'reserve' spawn that players can not reach easy, or the time lines for other creatures to change habits expanded dramatically.. something like that to account for the mass killing of critters.
I think if they had left the system in place disabled for the first year or two, letting players settle in and evole a bit first, then kick it on, it ma have made the difference of it lasting.

But in the end, do people really care about the habitat of in game animals? I dont think so, and for the 10 people that might, there are 1000 that would rather see the effect ef an extinction, rather than survival of any given animal..

sad.
 
Would probably do well on an RP shard with less players and some type of ecological interface for the players where they can track things that are happening (would finally be a use for the tracking skill??). Outside of an RP world, don't think players would care unless there is something in it for them.
 
Not exactly off topic, I had an idea to spawn extra mobs if the player population reaches a certain count in a region.

I haven't messed with it yet, but I thought it would keep dungeons a bit more challenging/fair no matter how many players are in the area.
 
I had an idea to spawn extra mobs if the player population reaches a certain count in a region.
This is on my list to do. If players don't attack a population of creatures that reproduce quickly its population will grow significantly in a given area and may spread to new areas. creatures that reproduce slower my take longer or may never spread out.
Players could kill off creatures making them relocate to a safe location or possibly not spawn for a extended period of time. This in turn could prevent spawn camping and or resource gathering such as leather or equipment.

Another option is a player attacks a goblin fort, this in turn ticks off the goblin king who send re-enforcements to the fort area. After enough forces have been killed perhaps the goblin king will send stronger monsters to try and regain control of the area. If that still fails he might put together an army to attack the nearest human settlement.
This in turn gives players the feeling that their actions in the game world have reactions and it give a much deeper depth of immersion for any play style.
Who knows maybe a player who is a lumberjack uses that area between the goblin fort and the town to collect lumber. His area would become over run with goblins. So choices that one or a group make will affect other players aswell. Bringing an overall sense of community to those who spend time in certain areas. Now they all have a problem on their hands that if not dealt with they'll lose their settlement, town or city.
 
This is on my list to do. If players don't attack a population of creatures that reproduce quickly its population will grow significantly in a given area and may spread to new areas. creatures that reproduce slower my take longer or may never spread out.
Players could kill off creatures making them relocate to a safe location or possibly not spawn for a extended period of time. This in turn could prevent spawn camping and or resource gathering such as leather or equipment.

Another option is a player attacks a goblin fort, this in turn ticks off the goblin king who send re-enforcements to the fort area. After enough forces have been killed perhaps the goblin king will send stronger monsters to try and regain control of the area. If that still fails he might put together an army to attack the nearest human settlement.
This in turn gives players the feeling that their actions in the game world have reactions and it give a much deeper depth of immersion for any play style.
Who knows maybe a player who is a lumberjack uses that area between the goblin fort and the town to collect lumber. His area would become over run with goblins. So choices that one or a group make will affect other players aswell. Bringing an overall sense of community to those who spend time in certain areas. Now they all have a problem on their hands that if not dealt with they'll lose their settlement, town or city.

Cool ideas!

A lot of these things can be done with XMLspawner and conditional spawning.

I created one where if you did too much lumberjacking in an area, treefellows would spawn and attack. You should see the crafters run for it!
 
Cool ideas!
A lot of these things can be done with XMLspawner and conditional spawning.
I created one where if you did too much lumberjacking in an area, treefellows would spawn and attack. You should see the crafters run for it!

I know a shard that could use little stuff like that done!
 
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