Parks for strolling in

[Mordraugion]

Definitions of park on the Web:

    * a large area of land preserved in its natural state as public property; "there are laws that protect the wildlife in this park"
    * a piece of open land for recreational use in an urban area; "they went for a walk in the park"
    * ballpark: a facility in which ball games are played (especially baseball games); "take me out to the ballpark"
    * Scottish explorer in Africa (1771-1806)
    * parking lot: a lot where cars are parked
    * place temporarily; "park the car in the yard"; "park the children with the in-laws"; "park your bag in this locker"
    * a gear position that acts as a parking brake; "the put the car in park and got out"
    * maneuver a vehicle into a parking space; "Park the car in front of the library"; "Can you park right here?"
      wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

You're all correct so no need to start quibbling

[Induane]

Yea I agree with that last part Illyria.  People bring cameras and pose and think they are off in wildlife.  I guess I sort of understand why some people bring cameras, but I prefer not to.  Last few times I've went camping, its just been me, a tent, a jug of water, and some food.  Prolonged outings I bring along a portable brita(tm) water filter.  That way I just need a canteen and I can fill up at any stream or lake.  I go without any other technology because usually thats what I'm trying to escape... people.. and technology. 

On a side note, I've noticed a few things about camping out.  For one, I require less sleep.  I can go to bed at 1 am or so and still wake up at 6 refreshed and feeling great.  I don't toss and turn, I don't lay awake for hours thinking, I just go to sleep and wake up.  I'm not sure if its the slower gradual wakeup from the sun slowly rising or what but I can't help but feel when I am out there that I'm not missing something by living like that.  In those moments I am happy and free, and I dread coming back to the [un]real world and rejoining society. 

I love computers  and technology, and yet when I'm out in forests or large prairies (Kansas has one of North Americas only remaining tall grass prairie's) I simply don't miss them.  I don't feel like watching TV or sitting down at the computer, I don't feel like going out to a movie, or out to a nice restaurant or bar, its not the distracting sort of happy, its a deeper happiness.  I don't know any other way of explaining it. 

I'm wondering if the majority of the posters in this thread have ever been to a real park.

Its hard to say, I'd think most people have been to real parks in some way, but I'm not sure how many actually experience it.  Being out in nature is somewhat of a religious experience for me, and I find that no matter what, I can always go back to the woods and be myself and calm down.  Its comforting, calming, and natural feeling.  Even though alone in the dark in woods I have a sort of special fear of things coming to eat me or attack me or bite me (like spiders or snakes) it doesn't "really" bother me. 

A golf green with benches and monkey bars does not a park make.

I couldn't agree more.  I think places like that, while they are referred to as parks, would be more aptly just called "recreational areas".  Open places where you can play games and the like or stroll around enjoying the day.  These aren't bad places, in fact some are absolutely wonderful and beautiful, but its a different sort of park.  On the other hand, Mordraugion makes a good point, in that in the end its not worth arguing about semantics and nomenclature.  We can call things by different names, in the end everyone just sees what makes sense for them in the words they read. 

I once got lost in 60,000 acres of uncharted wilderness.  Fortunately I was only 8 miles from the edge of civilization and I was able to find my way out.

Aye, I've been lost once or twice myself, though I have not idea the size of the wilderness area.  Its a baffling, frightening, and yet somehow rejuvenating experience to have to use some wits and a bit more natural sense to find your way through unfamiliar territory.  Taking unknown routes places I think leads us to experiences we'd never find otherwise, and in the end its usually worth it.

Also, I like the picture in the above posts, but when I am out in areas like that I kind of feel bad, like adding these paths and bridges somehow scars the land.  Its not just nature that truly exists off the beaten path; I think happiness resides there too, and in the end, happiness is my ultimate goal.  I just wish it was easier to obtain sometimes.

[Illyria]

I once got lost in 60,000 acres of uncharted wilderness.  Fortunately I was only 8 miles from the edge of civilization and I was able to find my way out.

Blair witch... went that through your head?

[zanzibar]

I once got lost in 60,000 acres of uncharted wilderness.  Fortunately I was only 8 miles from the edge of civilization and I was able to find my way out.

Blair witch... went that through your head?

I was more worried about getting more lost than I already was.

[mufler]

i huge water fall!!!!!!!!!

[Illysia]

i huge water fall!!!!!!!!!

We already have one of those. Maybe a small one though.  And maybe you can row a boat under it. That would be fun.

[mufler]

oh lol sorry ^^ yes and under is a nice little cave with a man selling flowers

[Xyitan Nolas]

i huge water fall!!!!!!!!!

No! The last thing we need is amother one of those huge lag inducing decorations. Don't get me wrong, I like details, and I like waterfalls, but the lag both limits my ability to enjoy them and troubles me when I am in the area for other reasons.

[bilbous]

Maybe such an area could be separately instanced and randomly generated so that you and your group could all enter the same instance and wander to your hearts content.

[Pizzasgood]

This is called "PlaneShift," and I've seen (in-game) the Death Realm referred to as another plane.  So maybe there are a bunch of other planes.  Maybe one of them is unstable and infinite.  So when you enter it, you can wander for ever and ever and ever, and it just keeps generating random heightmaps and stuff.  As for unique instances, to meet up with friends and such, that could be done by having "coordinates", either within the plane itself, or within a "region" of planes.  As in, an "infinite" number of similar planes exist within two meters of eachother through the Z direction or something.

To visualize that, imagine living in a 2d plane.  All you know is left-right and forward-backward.  Well, someone could be in a similar situation a meter above you, and neither of you would know the other exists.  There could be an infinite number of such things in just that meter.  Even a nanometer would be enough to separate them into their own "universes".  Expand that into three or four dimensions, and you could have an infinite number of "planes" "stacked" on each other in some direction we can't perceive.

To reach it, maybe you have some crystal or something that you align a certain way.  It could have notches, so you can "dial in" a plane.  So, like with a radio or IRC, you just have to know which "channel" your friend is on to join up.

One problem is that if it's randomly generated and infinite, it can only store so much of itself at once, so if you stroll too far, the stuff you already saw would be discarded and unrecoverable.  Thus, anyone who comes in after that would have to pop up within a certain distance from you, or else have some kind of "seamless randomization" so that their own random stuff would meld into yours as they approach.  The amorphous behavior of the land is already explained by the instability, so that much is okay.  It's just a pain for the coders.



What I want to see is the equivalent of real-world forests.  As in something with actual trees, that you can walk between or maybe climb, not a wall of wood like the one by the magic shop.  And not small ones either.  I'm talking at least as big as those road maps, maybe bigger.  With slight variations in the trees and foliage at differing places, and small streams and brooks, and occasional meadows or caves.  People think it's easy to get lost in the big roads to Oja and BD.  Bah.  They have giant landmarks and big hills.  With a huge forest, visibility would be severely limited.  Without a compass, maintaining a direction would be very difficult.  You have to turn to traverse around trees and stuff (unless you straff a bunch).  It would be awesome.  And then you could maybe have an entire villiage up in the trees, with wooden causeways linking the trees and stuff.   


'Conventional' parks would be good to have too, of course.  I just wouldn't bother with them much unless there was some interesting equipment there, or some kind of events (bands, sports, etc.).  I prefer the big wilderness stuff.  A park feels too much like a zoo, unless it's really big.  Even then, they have an unnatural and artificial feeling that I don't really like.

[zanzibar]

Existence of magic = anything is possible and no explanation is really needed.

[Pizzasgood]

Yeah, but that's cheap.  Some explanation with a little "magic" is better.  After all, there's no such thing as magic, even in fantasy.  It's just aspects of physics that either don't comply with our perception of it, or that we just haven't figured out yet.  Even when there's "magic", stuff still happens for a reason.  There are different rules, but rules none the less.  And knowing, or at least glimpsing, those rules makes things far more interesting and realistic than just saying "it's magic, don't worry about it".