How Big are They?

The extent of a virtual reality is based on two things. The first is how much is actually in the reality, or the number of objects con tainted in it, to be exact. Size doesn't really have much to do with the number of objects containable in a reality; a tiny figurine, for example, is far more complex than a huge box, and will take up far more memory to create.

To simplify this, we simply count the total number of objects existing in the reality, averaging the levels of complexity over all the objects within. The result gives us a pretty good thumbnail for how much memory (in MU) will be required to create a given reality.

The actual space covered by the reality doesn't matter; you could build a huge virtual reality with only a hundred or so items, if one of them is an endless sky and the other is miles of empty grassland. What's important to the design is the number of separate objects that must be interacted with inside the reality.

This can lead to some interesting shortcuts. Want to build a huge mansion but don't have the MU for it? Build it as a 1,000 object reality, and make your vast shelves of books in the Library all one object (sure. you won't be able to pick up and read an individual book, but you don't often climb up there anyway). Make all of the walls as single objects; you won't be able to open windows or move pictures, but they'll look nice. And so on.

How much can be contained in a reality it pretty much up to the Referee; he's the one who is best able to judge how much you will be able to interact with in a "game" context, after all (besides, he'll be the one who describes your virtual reality to you as part of the game). The descriptions in the table below are primarily there for reference; your Referee may decide that an aircraft carrier with a squadron of F-18s will only require 10,000 objects, just as long as most of the jets are simple, non-flying shapes, and that the only places you actually ever go to are your cabin, the flight deck and the bridge. Or he may decide that if you want a fully functional office, it will require 10,000 objects just to cover every piece of paper, individual pencil, or paperclip.

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