> > I can't think of a single reason in which
> > heroes should whip out abacuses and contrast population
> > densities against some mysterious standard of which they
> > have no way of knowing.
>Foul! Extension to illogical extreme.
Reductio ad absurdum is a valid means of argumentation.
>The problem is much more acute from the GM's point of view;
I don't think so.
>if you're looking at the map and making
>decisions, you want them to be plausible so that they are memorable,
>intuitive, make sense.
That's true. But absolute population densities (or population densities compared to earth) are such dull, forgettable and uninspiring numbers that we can all ignore them. When I visited the Netherlands (which I previously knew to be one of the most densely populated areas on earth), I was surprised by the size of the empty green spaces between the cities. Since that time, I've always felt that such figures mislead far more than they supposedly reveal.
>I don't want to wrestle with the problem of
>how all these people feed themselves if I'm trying to write a plot;
Then don't. Absolute population densities are a good example of Too Much Information.
--Peter Metcalfe
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