Well I just wanted to say that this is really exciting .. My dream has always been to be involved in such a project. By the way, has anyone here seen a Hummings Bird?
As muvch as i hate to refer to established game systems (AD&D) It appears that the first determination must be what functions will the character be allowed to attempt. If we attempt a real-world modeling then detailing is important but not to the point that the player is bogged down in min-max-ing. Perhaps if we break down the list of potential actions into the respective catagories of Physical vs Intellectual?
Example. Attributes Primary Strength : application of brute force. Agility : adroitness and skill aptitude. Health : physical toughness. Intelligence : ability to learn and retain. Charisma : Strength of personality. Wisdom : Ability to understand how to apply ones knowledge.
Then develop direct correlations between ones resources and abilities
Example... Endurance = (Strength+ Health) / 2 : Physical stamina. This skill will be affected by all activities physical. Minor activities will drain this slowly while strenuous activities will drain more quickly. Time between camps will affect the regain rate on a logarithm eventually beconing = 0. (Representing the fatigue of the flesh). This max time could be affected directly by health.
I ask this because my personal pet peeve about online games is the apparent endless supply of VERY UNUSUAL magic items.. Perhaps some sort of limit should be place on the number of items added by the server. While provision could be made for characters (after great expense to themselves of course) could create magic item. This would certainly add to the value said items.
OOH OOH and the maker of an item should have the ability to give it a name..
Skills increase over time if successful use. but at the same rate.. so that a macro-er who successfully uses a skill 10 times per (delta time) gains at the same rate as the person who uses the skill legitimately 1 time per (delta time). Therefore skill increase will directly relate to time in game but one would still only be gaining skill if he actually used it.. A secondary modifier to increase chance of skill gain should be the base scores of the prerequisite skills as well as the prerequisite abilities.