Skyrim Timelapse Takes a Moment

the question is how long will it take - with developers inevitably creating larger, even more detailed open world environments - till these open worlds start to take on lives of their own. NPCs develop free will? decide THEY want to be the chosen one and finish all the quests for you? stop playing GTA for a few days, come back and a bridge has been built to some paradise cocaine orgy island?

maybe i read too much sci-fi.

There's a book called Mogworld where it's done from the perspective of a NPC in a MMO. Basically they're all sentient until the game developers start changing everyone to be more like the regular NPC's we all know and love/hate. Fairly funny book if you're into reading.

Also Skyrim, why so pretty?

Well I think that once hardware abilities permit that a nature in real life could be modeled. Trees could grow and die. Rivers flood and run dry. Fires destroy towns, land to allow rebuild/regrow. If you attack a town or fort and destroy it, nature could retake it. While you can create a larger and more detailed world, I think how the world changes to what happens in the game would capture more realism.

dirty_f - That would be a great game. Where every NPC had a mind of its own and the ability to create? Scary ****...

Exactly. Plus how the weather effects the player. Wading through snow or water that gathers. Wind or rushing water having the ability to move objects.

and mudslides from all the rain and deforestation while leveling up my woodcutter...

Maybe dirty_f's and friggest's comments should be part of a manifesto titled "What we want in next-gen RPG" and the link to it sent to all the publishers. Those are good ideas.

I once thought of a leveling system in which while your weapons skill is leveled with its use (like Skyrim) your stamina, agility, strength and armor are upgraded according to your age in the game, and you begin playing as a kid and slowly grow into an adult, with changes in your face and body.

Of course that would require having a way not to age once you reach your prime, else you wouldn't want to play the game once you are 90 and can barely move, let alone slay that dragon trying to eat you.