Ted Castronova is interviewed by Daniel Terdiman (yet another example of how we’re all a clique who talks to each other and get press thereby! But it’s all for good causes, honest!) about his Shakespeare-themed virtual world “Arden,” which Ted is using Multiverse for, I believe.
I loved this little design tidbit:
We’re going to make some texts of Shakespeare available as the most treasured items. So that incents people to collect bits of Shakespeare. You might get an ordinary broad sword, but if you collect the “To be or not to be” speech and then take it to a lore master or to a skilled bard, he can then apply the magic to your broad sword or utilize the magic in a battle situation to give you this massive (advantage).
So there will be this intensive competition to get the best speeches of Shakespeare in your playbook. You’ve got to know your Shakespeare, but if you do collect these texts you can just playfully kick butt the way wizards do.
Way back in the day on Worlds of Carnage, there was a Romeo and Juliet themed zone, where the characters wandered around spouting the speeches. It’s been a long time, and I don’t remember what the quests were. Legend at one point was going to have a Shakespeare play staged in the Old Globe in its Elizabethan London area. I don’t know if it was ever finished.
There’s lots of potential for Shakespeare and virtual worlds. Hopefully, Arden won’t be solely focused on combat. The first play they plan to tackle is Richard III, though, so it’ll probably be RvR.
15 Responses to “Arden”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
are pretty shallow. Mostly, we get to watch them get sucked into the evil vortex that is Richard and see how much they struggle against it. They each get their turn, but it is all about Richard. Update: A few hours after I posted this, I read about a Shakespeare-themed virtual world. The first play they’ll tackle is Richard III.
Raph Koster’s blog (Link)
Well Richard III was based on real life raid parties (read: horrible, bloody melees where fathers and husbands were dismembered in the name of two different rich people) so it makes sense as an MMO metaplot.
To go a bit off-topic, the original example of this is, arguably, academia. I know I saw a lot of cliques formed around the many obscure corners of the field and it was not at all uncommon to hear, “let’s try and publish at this conference, I know X, Y and Z on the committee”. Cliques are interesting socially but potentially dangerous for progress as they can shift from being merely a group of people with a common, obscure interest to being a way to remove all semblance of peer review. For sci-fi that’s exactly what people want, not to be judged by the rest of society, and that’s somewhat appropriate but also self-insulating and divisive. Even in sci-fi/fantasy/gaming I think you could argue that there is a lot of clinging to the past or to past modes of expression (which is ironic for sci-fi given that it is supposed to be about envisioning new futures).
Hahahaha, RvR. Nice.
[…] Comments […]
RVR was a good zinger…..
Not to further the tangent….
“Even in sci-fi/fantasy/gaming I think you could argue that there is a lot of clinging to the past or to past modes of expression (which is ironic for sci-fi given that it is supposed to be about envisioning new futures).”
/agree
I recently had an email discussion with a developer who basically told me he couldnt see how data would help at all, that he wasnt concerned about what people wanted in thier games all he was concerned about was his “Art” and that nothing should interfere with it.
Im not really sure how to take this, I mean I’m seriously at a complete and utter loss, I really value someones ability to dedicate themselves to whatever it is they call thier art, and that commercial considerations shoulnt play into an artists creation. But you know I’m all about advocating for gamers voices to be heard as well, and the “Art” in question is a monetized, commodity that consumers pay for….
I guess its good to make “art” for oneself, I just never thought of that applying to video games.
Back on target:
I cant wait to try out Arden, looks fun.
Why does it have to be about combat?
How about bonus personality points for (properly) using archaic shakespearian words and iambic pentameter? Or for speaking in rhyme? Or for quality soliloquies? Or sonnets?
If you want “combat”, why not insult duels like that pirate adventure game series. (Can’t remember the name.)
Because Ted grew up on EQ? *shrugs* I was happy about his comments on RMT, though.
What I find interesting is that this is an educational project that is based on a cultural topic. Many government and non-profit orgs are funding online projects that put a bit more emphasis on playful, fun education with quest designs that are beyond mere hack-n-slash or fedex tasks.
I already pointed out to Ted that China, like many other countries, is funding a lot of money in online educational projects and that a world based on Confucius and the Warring States eras could easily be joint-funded in parallel with a world based on Shakespeare.
Hope he get all the funding he needs, if the haven’t already.
Frank
More About Ted Castronova’s Arden MMO
The Shakespearean virtual world being built by Ted Castronova at Indiana University will run on the Multiverse platform, or so hears gamedev Raph Koster. Koster also links to a CNet story by Daniel Terdiman that sheds more light on MMO, which is to be …
[…] Raph suggests that it’ll be using the Multiverse toolset, using it to experiment in ways I’d always hoped (the petri dish) and challenging some of the fantasy MMO staples that I’ve wanted to see challenged. […]
Mike, I believe Monkey Island is what you’re referring to.
Damn, that sounds interesting. Easy zones to implement: MacBeth (there’s practically a glowing exclamation point above the weird sisters), Midsummer (holy crap elves!), Romeo & Juliet (PKs!!!). Hard zones to implement: Love’s Labour’s Lost (um, panty raid?), Hamlet (you only win if you die).
Seriously, just about everything Shakespeare has done lends itself to a PvP environment, in one fashion or another. To make it truly Shakespearean, there would need to be a sense of beauty to it all. Yeah, beautiful young ladies are dismembered in Titus, but it’s oh so lyrical when it happens!
[…] We are invited out for dinner to Michael and Anna’s. Elijah, their son, is a regular at the game group, and Michael shows up occasionally, too.No kids this weekend, except Eitan who will be in and out for lunch tomorrow (if that). I know many parents would kill for that, but divorced parents don’t feel that way. Yeah, it’s nice to have quiet, but if we had our druthers we would see the kids more, not less.Is my last post with all the pictures causing any problems? Too large? Too many broken links? I tried to load it on a different browser and had some problems the first time (not the second), but I’m downloading to Israel, after all, which is always a few orders of magnitude slower.I’m working on a post about scoring and winning, which I’ll probably post to Gone Gaming next week. The two questions are:What makes a good score for a game? 0-0-1? 0-1-2? 3-4-7? 10-12-76? 45-163-306? 306-306-307? 4-19-10,0005?No matter what we score in a game, the end result is always 0-0-1 (or sometimes 0-1-1), i.e. winners and losers. Is there anything we can do about that?If you have any thoughts, add them to the comments. You may see your name in print in my next post on Gone Gaming!Links:Rick Thorniquist’s video on the first day of Essen is very well done. He is really upping the quality and professionalism of his reporting.This week’s Vintage Gamer covers some board game books. I haven’t heard it yet, but it’s downloading.Raph points to a MMORPG set in the world of Shakespeare. It’s not built yet, but it’s a great idea.I found a blog devoted to Cosmic Encounter, and the official blog of Cosmic Encounter Online which is updated by Peter Olotka.Oh. And do you want to play Puerto Rico Monopoly?Yehuda […]
[…] A few hours after I posted this, I read about a Shakespeare-themed virtual world. The first play they’ll tackle is Richard […]