Just what is Virtual Nature

When Khamon invited me to this blog, I gladly accepted. After all, I'll take any chance to get my name out in to the ether. (That's Jarod, with an "o" at the end.) However, I wasn't really sure what "Virtual Nature" was. I'm still not exactly sure what it is.

That's not exactly true.

I understand the two words by themselves. "Virtual" refers to the virtual reality aspect of 3D games, specifically MMOG's. "Nature" refers to the environment of the games, much like nature in the real world; it's the trees, the animals, the lakes, the hills, etc. But, where do you draw the lines between nature, NPC, avatar, and interface?

Take the monsters you meet in Asheron's Call, like Drudges and Phantos Wasps. Are they NPC's? You interact with them like non-player characters. Are they part of the interface? You can click on them and interact with them like a menu or an icon. Are they part of the virtual nature of the environment? I've seen desert wasps, beach wasps, and forrest wasps; each type specific to a region, just like real species.

So, where do you draw the line? Do you draw the line? Should there be a line? Are they all three? Those are the questions I keep asking when I think about this blog. Is nature the interface, is the interface the nature?

What do you think?