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."

Comments

Popularity shouldn't define content

[wondafucka]

Who cares if only a couple of thousand people are interested in it? It's a work of art, and if it survives despite dumptrucks full of money, it doesn't really matter.

It's better to have a small community with a richly defined experience than a new game aimed at people who already have a mass produced outlet they are content with.

Good story?

[AndreySeven]

Since Orson Scott Card is going to help out with this, I hope it will be entertaining in a different type of way; I get sick of games in which the point is to level your character etc. Maybe this will set a precedent to put more of a story into Mass Multiplayer games. Is this the first "proposed" MM game that will employ a master writer? It's the only one that I can think of...