The resources could be limited. Players could not have money, food, water, clothing, weapons and so on in infinite supply as is usually the case in muds. The first objective of the game would then be to collect enough money, or power, to prevent your character from starving, freezing or all other unpleasant things. Players could form clans or guilds to make sure that their members would never die of such desperate situations. And of course skills to actually produce those limited resources are going to be quite usefull.
This could be elaborated to make the players responsible for their world. In much the same way that players on a Mush with unrestricted building change their game world. For a roleplaying environment this should probably be more limited.

List3A By: Marian

As players advance in level, power, ability or rank they could get a greater control over their environment, but coupled with the need for to bring up the greater upkeep cost as well. Higher ranked players can control a bigger part of the world and its inhabitants.
E.g. a player may choose to play a farmer. This means finding a place in the world that is suitable for farming but is unclaimed (it is marked as wilderness). For a yearly fee the player can create a couple of rooms. This fee should be earned by selling the products of that farm. If things work out as they should the player ought to get better at 'farming' and be able to earn the cost for a larger farm. This means that there are more rooms (fields) to grow crops in, and perhaps the player can hire a couple of game-characters to assist in all the work involved.
In time this player should be able to become a major land owner, possibly with player or monster smallholder to work on part of the fields. At this point, within the game, this player would become a major political factor for the other powers to reckon with.


List3Sil By: SiLi (blktorrent@email.msn.com)

Farming and such poses an interesting opportunity for true player development, but also an array of problems, the foremost being the boredom factor. Yes, a player could develop and build a farm, etc., but would you keep logging on day after day to plow grain? The majority of players use a game as an escape to an artificial reality that seems more interesting than their own at a point in time, for any number of reasons. The eventual repetition and lack of combat subjected to a player by these conditions might cause them to wander off to a different game where blood and guts reign. To implement the farming system, and the like, successfully, I'd think you'd have to expand it quite a bit. Engineer the need to enter the city, hunt the surrounding countryside, or quest off in legions with armies. Only then is the realism instituted by farming useful in attracting players and maintaining them.

List3B By: Marian

Changes from player actions should be permanent, or at least be lasting. E.g. if a mage levels a town with fireballs, then that town should be showing the signs of being burned for a long time. And if the town becomes uninhabited it ought to fall to ruins slowly until the game reclaims it for wilderness. This is the reverse side of players creating their game world. A city only exists by the efforts of its inhabitants to maintain it. Of course for each player, and player controlled monster the game should provide a multitude of inhabitants that are required for a city of that magnitude, to generate money for the city council to pay the upkeep for the entire city.

List3C By: Marian

Any area that is not maintained by players will eventually revert to wilderness, and its inhabitants, the speed and type of wilderness depending on the climate set for that region of the game world.
Any wilderness is handled by the game. Mostly those inhabitants should be simple animals, or magical creatures if the game should have a strong fantasy setting. For the game to work out these inhabitants should be reasonably dangerous, to make going out and creating a place for oneself rather than stay in a city a real adventure. This could be enhanced by having the game provide intelligent opponents, e.g. other cities or other races. Roaming bands of plundering goblins should be enough deterrent for players to lightly decide to leave the city and try to become a power on their own. And they should provide enough incentive for even action hungry players, in the absence of any direct gain from combat.