Since I'm sure some computer game players will notice the connection, I'll say that the computer game
Ultima IV was definitely one of the many inspirations for this book. That game presented a system of virtues that includes honesty, compassion, valor, justice, honor, sacrifice, humility, and spirituality, which are based on different combinations of truth, love, and courage. You can learn more about it on
this Wikipedia page.
I really liked the
Ultima virtue system when I first encountered it. But the main problem was that this system was too heavily slanted toward social interaction, so its virtues weren't truly universal. For example, the principle of justice won't readily help you improve your health. I also thought the virtue of sacrifice was questionable, and the virtue of spirituality seemed way too nebulous.
I thought Richard Garriott (creator of the Ultima series) had gotten close to something that could have far more universal applications. Interestingly, I came up with a similar triangular structure to what he devised, even though this exploration took me in many different directions before the final solution began to emerge. Coming up with a simple structure like this is a lot more difficult than it may appear.
I actually met Richard Garriott at a conference many years ago (long before I started blogging) and told him how much I liked the structure of the virtue system he came up with. I had a brief conversation with him about how he came up with it. Basically it amounted to a lot of trial and error, which was essentially the same approach I ended up using.
Somehow I think it's very fitting that I should draw a bit of inspiration from a video game for my first book.
