Some thoughts on World enviroments

My thoughts begin with the game environment overall. Mechanics and gameplay are crucial but are only a part of the whole. A MMO requires a strong IP, that almost goes without saying. The main failing I have seen is that having just the nuts and bolts of a world are not enough. Even in a Science Fiction or Fantasy setting there has to be a sense of permanence. I think that is why book driven IPs are so strong in the marketplace. The places within the game have backstory. An author can not write a compelling story without a believable framework to reference his story against I feel a good MMO IP has the same requirement.The cities and locations within a world have to have reasons why they are as they are, not only in the present game environment but they need to have plausible sustainability and a believable way they came into being. Too many game worlds have locations that would not last a day against the hordes of unfriendlies mere yards from where they sit. Permanent locations need to have a visible means to protect themselves. This could be shown through a mechanic as well. By having an occasional random mobs pathing have it come into the aggro range of a location’s defenses helps in two ways, the world emulates having a life of its own and NPC areas show the players they defend themselves. Cities or stations or whatever the central player hubs are in a game should be populated. A large city with no defenders on the walls and only a few quest givers standing around are one of the fastest ways to cut into the immersion factor of an area. I think large locations should be capable of defeating large player attacks let alone random mobs.Beyond locations, regions that claim to be semi-peaceful should be. Villages may not have defenses capable of protecting themselves alone per se but should have a means to accomplish that. I like the idea of regular patrols that would follow the main lines of trade throughout the regions as well as static caravans to represent the interaction between smaller villages and the main cities.Game worlds need to feel like they function without the direct interaction of the player characters. The players should be the foremost catalyst for change within the world but not the only one. Worlds should change but most change is can actually be circular. For example; have the static route caravans stop at predetermined spots daily for several hours and have vendor npcs available during and only during the stops. Almost like a floating rest camp with static locations where it will make camp. The random patrols mentioned earlier could follow roughly the same route. Providing the plausible extra defense force needed for the villages as well as caravan protection. I have fleshed out my ideas on resources for crafting and construction in an earlier post. I also emailed it to the guys over at Channel Massive as well and have to admit they has some good insights on the feasibility of some of my thoughts. The resource placement in the environment does need to be logical but perhaps without a cumbersome re-spawn mechanic. Although I do like the finite ore node idea representing veins in the mountains but also wood should only be forested areas, ore in mountainous areas, farming only available on cultivated fields. Maybe allow player housing to come with a bound cultivation field attached.I am eagerly awaiting the guild fortified town idea in AOC to see how many of my wanted items are going to be satisfied, So far it looks very promising.