> In my opinion, it's not so much about the "content" as much as it is about the number of interacting systems... Right on. I'll give a concrete example from o

> In my opinion, it's not so much about the "content" as much as it is about the number of interacting systems... Right on. I'll give a concrete example from one of the most immersive games I recall, Ultima VII. Now, this may or may not have been intended as a possibility by the developers, but I think it's important to consider this could have been emergent gameplay non the less. Why is this important? Because it should serve to inspire the pursuit of future emergent gameplay of course! So here it is -> The Bank Robbery. The Setup: Lord British will resurrect dead people you bring to him(you can put dead people in your sack!). NPC's have daily schedules(go to work, the pub, home to sleep, etc), and resurrected NPC's will find their way back into their schedule. The bank/mint in Britain has a banker name Cynthia. She has the keys to all the locked doors and chests that have tones of gold bars and coins.. There are powerful guards in lobby. What you do: Grab powder kegs from the castle and bring them to the lobby. Ignite the kegs to kill the guards and Cynthia. Loot her corpse to get the keys, then place the corps in a party mates bag. Now start making your way through the mint with the keys while locking the doors behind you. More guards will arrive and be blocked by you locking the doors. Loot every room and exit the back of the mint. Flee town until the heat is off. Return and take Cynthia to Lord British asking him to resurrect her. Cynthia will go home and return to her routine. Go back to the mint the next day and Cynthia will be at work! Sell her all the gold bars and nuggets you stole for coin. Profit :D Systems interacting in unforeseen ways is totally the way to go with this stuff. Ultima VII has given me a lot of inspiration for creating a multi-resolution whole-world AI system that can make more of these sorts of stories possible. One day perhaps.