I have an idea for LT. It might not necessarily be good, but at least it's original. I searched for the term "eugenics" and there are only four matches; one from when I just came up with the idea a few minutes ago and three from back when we were talking about Arthur Schopenhauer.
OUTLINE
Will NPCs in Limit Theory be static entities, or will they be living, breathing simulacrums of people who are born, reproduce with each other and die? If LT goes with the latter (and it can be really abstract about how "reproduction" occurs - you could just have a data structure where one NPC of one sex is paired with another NPC of the other), then it offers the possibility of NPCs evolving and - more excitingly - perhaps the opportunity for the player (or an NPC) to direct that evolution.
THEORY
In the real world, the average characteristics of members of a species tend to develop so that the species suits their environment. Organisms that possess traits that better adapt them to their environment tend to survive and reproduce more often than those with traits that are not as well-suited to their environment, and the traits the "fitter" organisms possess become more prevalent among the species. This is called selection. When this is guided by dumb, unintelligent forces, it is called natural selection. When there is an intelligent force that enforces the differential survival and reproduction rates of organisms based on the characteristics they possess, this is called artificial selection or eugenics.
IMPLEMENTATION
NPCs will have their own kind of personalities and possibly other genetically inheritable traits that are relevant to the game. When NPCs reproduce, their offspring will tend to inherit a mix of their parents' characteristics. Two aggressive parents will likely yield an aggressive offspring, whereas the offspring of an aggressive parent and an intellectual parent will likely be somewhat aggressive and somewhat intellectual.
It would be very interesting to see something like this working in Limit Theory. Natural selection could play a huge part in determining the characteristics of factions. Instead of arbitrarily assigning different average characteristics to different factions in the game, perhaps there could be actual reasons why factions possess particular traits due to the history of their development. This would need to be balanced so that different traits don't end up over- or under-represented in the game.
I touched earlier on the possibility of steering the general characteristics of an NPC population in a particular direction. This would rely on artificial selection or eugenics. Want to cull all the stupid, degenerate NPCs from a faction? Selectively kill them, ensure they don't breed. The average intelligence of that population should begin to increase. The reason that Ashkenazi Jews are supposely so intelligent is because of artificial selection, though instead of killing people, I believe they just excluded people too dumb to read from the Torah from their community. Coupled with in-breeding, this led to an increase in the general intelligence of the Ashkenazi Jews, as well as a heightened incidence of many genetic disorders.[1][2]
I would personally find it really enjoyable to selectively kill NPCs for the Greater Good. Or just steer their evolution for fun. I would feel like a god.
REFERENCES
[1] The 2011 Nobel Prize and the Debate over Jewish IQ (http://www.american.com/archive/2011/oc ... -jewish-iq)
[2] Researchers Say Intelligence and Diseases May Be Linked in Ashkenazic Genes (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/03/scien ... c=rss&_r=0)
Post
Sat Jan 18, 2014 12:07 pm
#1
Eugenics (and Evolution)
Last edited by ThymineC on Sat Jan 18, 2014 12:51 pm, edited 3 times in total.