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eGenesis to Develop New MMO with Orson Scott Card
Johnathon Walls writes "eGenesis, makers of the non-combat, world-building massively multiplayer online (MMO) game "A Tale in the Desert" versions 1 and 2, has signed a deal with Orson Scott Card (author of Ender's game and The Seventh Son) to develop the pre-Civil War American world of "Alvin the Maker" into a new MMO. This is also going to be a non-combat-centered, community-building world. Questions remain as to the amount of interest these non-combat games generate, and concerns about the rapidly dropping population of Tale 2 (a steady decline from 2089 subscribers on Sep 26 to 1582 subscribers on Jan 6) really bring this issue to the forefront."
On the other hand, it can't be much worse than what they got in high school.
Behold the riant ape! Beware, his crooked thumbs!
Caveat: I'm a raving fanboy of Orson Scott Card's *writing*.
That being said, as much as I adore the Alvin Maker series, I'm not sure how that will translate into an MMORPG. Ultimately all such games require conflict as much as cooperation, and without combat, conflict feels lacking in many such games.
Issues of product aside, I'm hoping Orson Scott Card reaps fantastic gobs of money for the license for the stories/setting, as his work certainly is worth it.
"To pass through the jungle; silence, courtesy, ferocity, as the occasion demands." -- Kamau, "Proper Passage"
It boggles my mind as to how a member of one oft-persecuted minority group (Mormons) can justify persecuting another minority group.
Why is it that the proponents of "one nation under God" are so eager to get rid of "liberty and justice for all"?
I never really understood how a MMO would work if based off a "super hero" world. Basicly, this MMO will be set in an alternative world of a godlike Joseph Smith. What's the angle; everyone starts their own church? Can we all sit around and translate plates hidden in a hat? Are we suposed to work together to cross Hatrack River or cut diseased bone from Joseph's (excuse me, Alvin's) leg?
Seriously, why do people buy into Alvin's story? It's just a fantasized retelling of Joseph Smith's life.
And OSC's Homecoming Series was basicly a rewritten account of The Book of Mormon.
I'd rather you do it wrong, than for me to have to do it at all.
> No game or hobby that requires dozens of hours per week to achieve and kind of success is ever very popular. Life is too full things to do.
I guess you've never heard of Everquest?
Five+ years and still going strong with over 400,000 subscribers.
To "achieve success" in EverQuest, the top guilds (ie: the successful guilds) raid ~5 hours a night, 5+ days a week (ie: avg 25 hours a week, which qualifies as "dozens")
But it's not very popular....
And thats just a game example, you included "hobby" as well.
I can think of many hobbies that are very popular, and also require dozens of hours a week to be "successful" at. Open Source software, anyone? Model Railroading? Quilting? Hell what about "Prime Time Television Watching"? Now there's a hobby that millions spend 40+ hours a week doing, but I guess it's not popular.
Hogwash. They are both excellent books in their own right.
Ender's Game will always hold a special place in the hearts of those who read it as children and could instantly relate to Ender's character (in the introduction to later versions of the novel, Card discusses the many letters he received to this effect).
You may prefer SFTD, but that doesn't make Ender's Game a waste of time on its own. I had read Ender's Game several times already, and loved it every time, before I ever touched the rest of the series.
Does that mean it will have slave trading? That would be strange. I guess you could ignore that piece of history for the sake of the game. That would be a little strange, also.
As is customary on SlashDot, disapproval of homosexuality is equated with homophobia. One can disagree with something, and even speak against it, without fearing it (at least in the phobic sense).
"Homophobe" and "homophobic" are nothing but name-calling - terms used to avoid engaging serious discussion on a topic that the new liberal orthodoxy has declared decided, even as the vast bulk of Americans simply disagree.
As far as your comparison of Homosexuals and Mormons - are you seriously suggesting that there is no difference between religious faith and sexual practice? Are you seriously suggesting that we have a freedom of sexual practice comparable to our freedom of religious conviction? Are you seriously under the delusion that the status of homosexuality as a civil rights issue rather than a moral issue is settled?
The bottom line is that YOU are the innovator here, not Card. To act as though he must, necessarily, agree with your orthodoxy when your orthodoxy has thrown the orthodoxy of 30 years ago out the window, and that any failure to do so must only be because he is "homophobic", is downright insulting.
"He who would learn astronomy, and other recondite arts, let him go elsewhere. " -- John Calvin, commenting on Genesis 1
Did you actually READ that essay, or just grab the title? Because he repeatedly states that -his religion- disallows homosexuality, but that it also disallows extramarital behaviour the like. If you disagree with someone's religion, that's fine; but state that fact up front instead of pretending there's a flaw in his WRITING capability.
Have you never seen a swashbuckler? Three Musketeers? One of the old Errol Flynn movies? Witty banter is a necessity for dueling! Let the sharpest tongue win!
My favorite implementation of dueling in computer games is still "Curse of Monkey Island"; you have to figure out the correct witty comeback in order to win your duels. It's one of the best (or at least most amusing) puzzles I've ever seen.
MMOs have very few of the puzzles and riddles that you find in (some) MUDs or the interactive fiction games. They have abandoned a key element of RP computer games (and PnP games) that keep people interested, amused, and engaged. It's a key reason they quickly feel like a grind.
.Do you realize that you just managed to fulfil a prediction? He just quoted Card saying that people who take a stand against homosexuality will be branded "bigots." So what do you call him? A bigot. At least do him the favor of finding a thesaurus for any future insecure rants.
For the ultimate OSC-style twist, the game could borrow a trick from Fable only in reverse. As you level up, your character would get younger until all of the high-level uber-characters were less than ten years old.
...but like you, I have decided not to read the writings of people who diagree with me.
No offense.
Though I believe in the concept of an "informed consumer", if you refuse to frequent businesses, read books, and otherwise engage with people whose views differ significantly from your own, you will quickly become either a cult member or the loneliest person on the planet.
Those are not estimates, they're completely random guesses, which I think are very very far from the real numbers