Ecosystem

Ludic Organisational Structure · V – Developmental Order subsistence · Tipping potential: high

Ecosystem orders through dynamic equilibria: populations grow, compete for resources, die and regenerate. It models the interplay of production and consumption – life and death.

Design question – How does your game self-regulate through the interplay of production and consumption?

Reference example – Photosynthesis: trees grow, cast shadows on others, die and make room for new seeds. Viva Piñata: the plants in the garden decide which animals arrive – and who eats whom.

Ordering domain

Orders the dynamic equilibrium of production, consumption, death and regeneration.

Emergent behaviour

Lotka-Volterra cycles (predator-prey oscillations), cascade effects, carrying capacity as an emergent system limit and paradoxical stability through constant change.

Core Mechanisms

• Production (MEC-01) – Resource production – food, energy.
• Decay (MEC-04) – natural decay, death, resource depletion.
• Feedback (MEC-30) – Population density ↔ resource availability.

Dynamic Mechanisms

• Accumulation (MEC-02) – Population growth.
• Matching (MEC-31) – Niche occupation – who fits where?
• Proximity (MEC-13) – spatial distribution of populations.
• Capture / Elimination (MEC-24) – Predator-prey dynamics.

Feedback architecture

• delayed – Predator-prey: more prey → more predators → less prey → fewer predators → prey recovers (Lotka-Volterra). (Feedback)
• negative – Carrying capacity: overuse → scarcity dampens population growth. (Decay)

Design parameters

• Diversity – 2 species (minimum) ↔ many species (complex web)
• Regeneration rate – slow ↔ fast
• Intervention – observing ↔ steering
• Tipping risk – none ↔ irreversible collapse possible
• Spatiality – global (one pool) ↔ local (distributed habitats)

Risk profile

• Runaway leader – low
• Kingmaking – low
• Stagnation – high
• Complexity ceiling – high

Compatible with

• Evolution / Adaptation (ST-13) – Compatible: evolution within the ecosystem.
• Commons (ST-04) – Compatible: a shared resource base.
• Territory (ST-08) – Compatible: habitats.

Tension with

• Production Chain (ST-03) – Tension: exploitation vs. sustainability.
• Market (ST-01) – Tension: economization of natural resources.