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Yes, this is my second post about games and techniques and other stuff to make other programmees annoyed because all I seem to do is talk about games and never write any. Getting straight into it then, there are large-scale simulators, like Sim City. This simulates a group of people, and is mainly based around a load of eqautions to work out traffic flow, probability of someone living next to a power plant, etc. No actual people exist, just groups of them. Next you get simulators with people in them, e.g. GTA. These people are quite simple, just wandering round the streets and running away from gunfire. About the same level of intelligence as the scientists in Half Life. GTA2 improved them a bit, e.g. putting the odd mugger and car jacker in. But there is still no real personality to the people (e.g. one minute someone is talking in a male voice, the next minute female. What fun.). The next level is something like The Sims, where the people are given personalities, and can interact with their environment and each other somewhat effectively and autonimously. According to Will Wright, development versions were too good at keeping themselves happy so they were dummed down a bit and made grumpier. However they still have no real brain, since are unable to think up their own ideas, and even if they could think then their environment isn't able to cope with it - all the objects are programmed in, not based around real physics. The next level then - which is perhaps the ultimate goal - is to make people which can make intelligent descisions, talk to each other, and influence their environment. To be able to qualify for this (IMHO), they must be able to make their own civilization - a city, with each person given a particular role. By looking at the city, it might even be possible to work out which kind of government they have opted for. A proper physics engine may not be needed for this, it could be based around a fixed technology tree (That the people understand, like in The Sims). Getting people to work by themselves is quite easy, but a true society is very difficult to make. Which is why I'm so interested in them 
The idea of a society also ties in with the Fear thread, in that if something was to happen then people may be unsettled, but not sure why - which would then make the player unsettled. But which one should I do? Fear or a society simulator? Help! |
