The hard worldbuilding TRAP

[HelloFutureMe]

Of course, don't ignore their environment either. It really does matter!

~ Tim

[the_cringe_nerd]

In other words cultures, nations and peoples evolve from external and internal pressures like a character does, just on a far broader scope.

[MissNemo]

Enviromental determinism is the starting point, not the end game.
You start with basic settlements that are shaped mostly but their environment and resources. How would these settlements explain the world around them? (A riven might be the open would of a life giving God in the middle of the desert) You've got religion. The surplus/absence of a resource means trade and/or conquest. Thinking of the materiality of their tools and weapons you can establish which ones win. So you modify the basic premises of the early settlements and adjust the foundational aspects of economy, power, religion and society to the new developments. And that's where the real sandbox fun begins

[KJTillymann]

I’d like to point out a counter point example;

Whittier, Alaska. Where almost the entire population of around 200 people all live under one roof, the 14-story self-sustaining “Begich Towers” which is one large building. In this small town, no one has to go outside unless they’d like to.

I’m just saying that sometimes it happens :)

[samlewis]

My favorite thing in fiction is when a settlement thrives in a ridiculous place not because it is a good place to settle, but because it's a terrible place to settle and humans are contrarians.

[eos_aurora]

Not me LITERALLY watching a short about environmental determinism two shorts ago 😂

[Fantasyfanatic-gznk]

"Its not just their environment"

(Goes on to lost a bunch of things that are, arguably, also part of their environment)

[widmawod]

I recommend reading "the dawn of everything" by Graeber and Wengrow. In culture-building, I find the concept of schismogenesis is crucial. It's a long read but it can really change your perspective on the relationship between history and culture, and on bias in archaeology and anthropology (and, therefore, how we view cultural diversity)

It also sheds light on the problematic concept of "complex society" and the consequences of environmental determinism and a very fixed, linear and essentialist idea of what agriculture is, when it came about, and what its consequences are (and aren't).

[claytonharting]

As a Floridian, I can confirm our three layer formal wear does not acknowledge nor respect our eternal summer / humid swamp environment. It’s absolutely miserable wearing a suitjacket with a tucked in shirt here. At any time of year

[ThePCguy]

I love that, "or over at YouTube" when we're clearly watching this on youtube. I get that this was originally a tiktok, but it's still funny.

[simonjohansson]

Here in Sweden we are defined by our refusal to let the cold darkness define us!!

[lunarshadow]

In the world I made, there is one nation that lives in a better land than the others, fertile lands that with an overwhelmingly high amount of vegetation. But the land is only strong because it is sandwiched between two other nations that live under harsher environments that are continuously attempting to take over major parts of the first nation's land.

[Hrafnskald]

Striking a balance is key. In good worldbuilding, many different factors will be interconnected: geography, economics, diet, trade, politics, religion, culture, behavioral norms. No one factor forces all the others down a single path, but they do influence each other.

What would the music of Sting or the writings of Twain be like if either lived in an inland city away from the water, with no river? The rivers and seas did not force them to be who they are, but they played a role in the voice of both.

[a.f.]

Sir, Norway would like a word with you. 😂

Seriously though, for writers it is crucial to have a fresh look on their texts and the idea those are shaping to have a more precise angle and depth of their narration is very decisive as well.

[SharpAsRavenClaws]

I hope you’ll make more world building videos, you haven’t uploaded new videos in this series for a long time, I like this series more than your video series on writing, I don’t know why.

[ixelhaine]

Environmental Pressures are important but Society itself is an Environmental Pressure.

[charlottegoldman]

Congrats on 100k+ copies! That's awesome

[human]

Why does the apostrophe change font in the beginning

[draconisthewyvern]

…all of those are influenced by environmental pressures.

for example a place with little water or too much or with regular flooding is more likely to have a water god/rain god of some sort.

if a group of people are completely land locked and have never seen nor know about the ocean they will not have a word for ocean and would probably adopt another languages word for it if not make one up when they finally do learn of its existence.

if a group of people live in a very cold or inversely a very hot place where it’s hard for things to grow it’s not likely they will develop an agrarian lifestyle, at least not before their peers do.

a place with too little water is far more likely to start wars over water than a place that has plenty of it.

a place with lots of fertile land isn’t as likely to start a war for it than a place with very little fertile land.

and…

an these beginning interactions of a society are heavily influenced by the environment. which can create feed back loops later down the line and effecting geo-politics, rivalries, hatred, trade, language

[enderkatze]

I do believe humans are a very noteable part of the foodchain. even without our funny technology, we are both prey and predator. We hunt herbivores and are, ourselves, hunted by carnivores. We feed on the foods of herbivores, and the foods of carnivores.