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199331 https://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.2.N.199331 http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0 2024-12 79 pages Pulver, Phoenix Grabill, Zachary Lewis, Jesse Kang, Yun Barrett, The Honors College School of Applied Sciences and Arts Text Ecological modeling techniques are complex, and their accuracy can be difficult to assess due to practical implications of the large-scale study of wildlife. Rain World (2017) is a video game program developed by VIDEOCULT and published by Akupara Games, which contains a complicated simulation that mirrors the trophic levels and species interactions of a real world ecosystem. By mimicking established wildlife research techniques, we were able to test several common ecological modeling techniques in the simulated ecosystem of Rain World; our exploratory analysis tested activity pattern modeling, occupancy modeling, and species-interaction occupancy modeling against both known and unknown simulation parameters. Due to considerations of small scale and fractured landscape connectivity, it is evident that Rain World is not an entirely suitable ecological simulation for assessing the efficacy of standard ecological models. Still, the convenience of a small-scale simulation of a broader ecosystem for wildlife study is very compelling, and we suggest improvements to our study design to potentially mitigate the confounding effects of the simulation. Limited evidence for the presence of complex, emergent behaviors derived from a simplistic set of in-game behavioral values was also found, arguably legitimizing our unconventional approach to model testing. Informed by this research, we present suggestions and speculation about the future of model-testing simulations, as well as the use of Rain World as a simulation of ecosystems in fragmented habitat. Activity Patterns Animal Behavior Ecological Modeling Model Testing Occupancy Rain World Simulation Video Game Wildlife Ecology Testing ecological models in the simulated ecosystem of Rain World