delicate subtrate

Really like the upper right notes on how games represent economies and ecosystems:

- "the world is an infinite source of resources and an infinite sink of waste. resources spring from thin air, waste vanishes from it"

- "every item and object and resource exists to be taken, used or discarded by the player"

- "the world is permanent and immutable, you cannot overexploit it, there are no negative consequences to "farming" resources"

- "progress is monotonic, the game is always advancing - more time spent accruing resources equals more progress and power"

- "the player is right to change and develop the environment and world to fit their needs, agenda, idea of how the world should be"

- "civilization expands into uninhabited land - no human or animal life is disturbed or displaced or wiped out"

- "the god's eye view is innate - accurate and up to date mapping and demographic information requires no infrastructure nor upkeep"

- "structures do not degrade or weather over time. there is only extreme weather and it either destroys or has no effect"

- "all human workers are interchangeable, expendable, and readily replaceable"

I've spent a lot of time playing Terraria and Pokemon, which check a whole lot of these boxes. Devs going off tried and true formulas for driving engagement, which have been embedded into genre at this point. Plus 'number go up' just hits an innate part of the brain. Wonder what alternatives could look like?