In [INSERT MMO], the air's not so clean....

Zillen

Is anyone even slightly bemused / interested / scared by the prospect that eventually realism and customisation in MMOs will reach the point where NPCs start explaining to the player exactly how screwed up their economy and environment is due to the fact that there is no real productivity or efficiency?

I personally think it would be hilarious for an easter-egg orc in, say, Orgrimmar to show up every couple of months in the city centre complaining about how his family is on the streets because they don't get paid, how he has to wear a mask to breathe because of how much toxic gunk processing the new city's metal produced, and how his grandmother died the day earlier because her brain couldn't comprehend the Horde's seemingly-limitless supply of resources and labor despite the lack of any sort of existent trade-transportation system.

I think it would be a fun addition to MMOs, seeing as how many (WoW the unfortunate spectacle of my amusement) do not truly elaborate on how the hell they tap into their limitless supply of phlebotinum, insta-grow-iron and the magical pollution-disappearer Element DsNtExst. Either that, or they could create a bit more of a believable scene. Would seeing a scripted trade cart roll down the road with heavily armored guards inside be so jarring every now and then? Would having a single NPC who could conveniently tell the curious player how everything works be so bad?

As it is, I'm just waiting for the first Guild Wars 2 expansion to come out:

"War of the Oxygen:

Adventurers, long occupied with their dynamic events and multiple branching dungeons, must now face their greatest task yet. The mighty Charr, for decades content to sit with the Black Citadel, have now realised that without any form of sustainable production, worker health/safety codes or TREES, their city is now sh*t-out of oxygen. Even as this crisis strikes, another emerges - every 4 out of 3 charr (WTF?!) has lung cancer from point-blank exposure to exhaust fumes, and thousands are dying in the streets from tetanus due to rust injury.

The Sylvari scream out for aid as their trees disappear without any form of actual work. You must stop the unseen threat of global harvest - before the next expansion comes out...and mysteriously...resolves the problem. *wiggles eyebrows*

Game of the Year, right there.

With the hit theme song, "Charrville: We Manufacture our Trees" ()