Comments on: Our backwards virtual worlds

By: NecroRogIcon » Welcome to the real world

NecroRogIcon » Welcome to the real world — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 06:47:26 +0000

[...] love Julian’s Backwards Virtual Worlds article. It reminds me of other comparison exercises like the old What would it be like if life were a [...]

By: Rog

Rog — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 05:50:52 +0000

In reality: Mounts, vehicles and air flight add significant superiority in combat situations.

In virtual worlds: Mounts, vehicles and air flight apply combat reductions or remove combat ability altogether.

By: Julian

Julian — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 03:16:00 +0000

Depends on the item. Art, antiques, books and publications, wine and some spirits and some other items do gain value over time.

By: usagizero

usagizero — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 02:50:32 +0000

Funny list, but i have to dispute this one:
“In reality, most items gain value over time.”

Um, not exactly, depreciation, as soon as you buy most items, they lose a good amount of value right away. I do wish it was true though, then my 9 year old computer would be near what i payed for it instead of almost worthless. ;)

By: Julian

Julian — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 17:46:47 +0000

No, I’m not making the case for reality or virtual worlds. I don’t care. I try to have fun in both. I’m just pointing out the flip.

By: Rog

Rog — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 16:06:13 +0000

Playing devil’s advocate here, because I enjoyed a lot of the points, but:

Are we in virtual worlds because we want to play reality?

By: Thallian

Thallian — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 16:04:57 +0000

lol this has me seriously amused

By: pjharvey » Blog Archive » Backwards in time, perhaps

pjharvey » Blog Archive » Backwards in time, perhaps — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 14:23:23 +0000

[...] over at Kill Ten Rats, muses on our backwards virtual worlds, pointing out a handful of curious anomalies between virtual worlds and reality. I don’t much [...]

By: yunk

yunk — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 14:02:13 +0000

One thing that I always hated was the concept of the “boss”. To me the boss was just a way to make a tough challenge at the end of a level, but since a smart mob would take too much processing power, they just doubled or trippled the stats. But for some reason as processing power increased, the boss concept as “super mob” never went away.

In the real world the boss is not the biggest and strongest, the boss is the smartest. He surrounds himself with some of the strongest to protect himself. (Unless it’s animal level intelligence where the best fighter is often the leader)

In MMOs and all games, the boss is the biggest and strongest regardless of how “intelligent” the mobs should be.

By: Syncaine

Syncaine — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:35:49 +0000

And oddly enough (or maybe not), most of the examples above apply to theme park games, not sandboxes.

Just to use DF as an example: You do escort high-value targets (overloaded crafters) to keep them safe, and with numbers hope to dissuade random attackers. You do hope to mass produce cheap goods (mid-rank armor/weapons) to fuel an army, while you also seek out the best crafters for rarer goods (the Ferraris of the virtual world). The elite PvP’ers are often used as the spear point of a siege, with the ‘average’ players coming in behind them to hold positions and keep areas in check once it’s a bit safer.

But yes, great list overall.