On 8/31/2011 7:50 AM, Invisible wrote:
> It would be nice if computer games could be a bit more open-ended like
> this. There are a number of reasons why they can't (in the foreseeable
> future):
>
> - The real world is far too expensive to simulate accurately. You have
> to simplify it down, which basically means removing lots of possibilities.
>
> - In the real world, you're generally fighting against other humans. AI
> still cannot even begin to approach that level of intelligence. (E.g.,
> if I *did* use chairs to block the door, the AI would be utterly
> baffled, and would never figure out a solution.)
>
> - In the real world, I can use anything I can lay my hands on. In a
> computer game, I've got, like, a dozen buttons and a mouse. Very hard to
> come up with a general control framework with such limited controls
> available.
>
> Those are the ones that immediately spring to mind, beyond "it would
> also totally screw up the story" (which is also intractably hard for a
> mere computer to sort out).
>
> I note that while it's completely 100% possible to play computer games
> with other humans, I tend to prefer playing them by myself. I guess
> because that way it's more like reading a book. Or maybe just because
> finding decent people to play with is so hard.
>
Well, an alternate to a "game" is an RP sim. Second Life has a number of 
them. The one I am in, when work isn't screwing that up, is post a 
apocalypse world, set "loosely" in the remains of LA. A coven of 
vampires is nominally in control over some parts of the city, demons are 
wandering around every place, angels have shown up, but can't quite work 
out what is going on (the closest answer anyone can get out of them is 
that the 'throne of heaven is currently vacant'), and every other sort 
of thing that goes bump in the night has come out of the woodwork. The 
major of those later groups being Lycan, Undead, Neko (cat people), and 
cyborgs.

The skill system works a bit like Eve, in that the longer you are 
"online and interacting" the more advanced your skills become (in this 
sense XP is being used, but except for turning in recordings of things 
you have done in the roleplay, and getting rewards for that, its mostly 
just ticking along at a set rate). Once you "level", you can pick from a 
number of skills for that level. Melee is possible, as is guns, but.. 
there are some issues with Second Life's servers which can lag the 
later, so, when possible, the RP has tended to avoid a lot of combat. 
Sane people also stay out of the main city, and in the outliers, due to 
similar lag issues... Too many people in one sim, basically, but its 
improving, slowly.

Basically, as a 'game' its pretty damn open, with the only rules being 
to stay "in theme" with what is going on in CoLA. But, there are several 
other similar systems around, and probably close to a thousand (or more) 
sims running some sort of combat system, with roleplaying going on, 
hundreds of them based on the same Community Combat System as CoLA has.

http://ccs-gametech.com/

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