I found it funny how the bank represented a fifth of the human capital in Arx Fatalis.

Which is why I imagine the game world and cities in every Elder Scrolls game (edit: from Morrowind onwards) are really 10-100 times bigger, but I only see the parts that are relevant to the story or interesting for my character. Similarly, trips from one city to another actually take much more time (partly reflected by how time progresses faster in the game), but I only "experience" the parts where I am attacked by bandits or discover a cave along the way. Much like in a book, not every step of a journey and not every house and inhabitant of a city are described, but only those things that are important for the story. But as the Elder Scrolls games are largely about exploring, and, in a way, writing your own story, of the potentially interesting things that are there, you can decide for yourself which you want to take a closer look at.

At least there are children...

<Thread hijacking>

What about children in games. Should they be included (for realism)? Should they be invulnerable? Or should they be "mortal" and killing them be punished by "casting out the player" (like the child-killer perk in Fallout)?

Even the world and cities of Arena and Daggerfall? (These two games have vast (sometimes too vast) cities with tons of generic people wandering around, and are so big that fast travel is mandatory (Arena) or necessary to keep the game playable (Daggerfall).)

Anyway, I think I may prefer smaller towns, or even menu based towns like in classic Wizardry; this way I can get my town errands over with and quickly get to the action.

Or, other possible ways children could be handled:

1. The game, like most JRPGs, does not allow you to attack arbitrary NPCs; there's no option for you to start combat, and you only fight when the game decides that you should fight. Hence, you can't attack children (unless the game puts you in combat mode with a child as the enemy).

2. The game uses children as enemies. (I have encountered this in Wasteland and Paladin's Quest; the latter is a JRPG that follows point 1 as well.) In this case, you are forced to fight children as a means of self-defense.

Yeah, I agree with this. I find it really odd that everyone is completely willing to stop and converse (often sharing quite important or sensitive information) with a complete stranger, it's different if the game sets you up as some kind of policeman or authority figure who people might be expected to talk to and ask for help, but it just seems odd that someone entrusts the safety of their loved one to a random stranger they just met.

I'd much rather have large crowds of mostly disinterested people who brush you off or ignore you if you do try to talk to them (so no need to loads of dialogue options to be written)

Yes, I meant the games from Morrowind onwards, but forgot to mention that.

I edited the original post to clear that up.

I prefer everyone I meet to be meaningful.

I just assume the janitors, the farmers that don't need me to clear their barn of monsters, etc. are all out there somewhere doing their job, I just don't ever meet them because it'd be boring.

They have to make it believable, however. Movies are shown only from one perspective. But you can explore a game however you feel.

I prefer the Avernum style: Kids are there, but rare. If you attack anyone who didn't become hostile on you first, it's your fault.

My thoughts went out to BG too, I'd rather have more commoners, most of whom have just a single hello phrase, than an almost almost empty town like the one mention in the OP. What I dislike though about Baldur's Gate, most of those commoners are just standing about.

The one I know of that was best done, is Drakensang, where in the main city the people are actually doing something: going from a to b, carrying goods, working, the city in Drakensang (I forgot it's name) really feels alive.