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A Tale In The Desert II Progress Report
MMORPG.com has a progress report available for the indie egyptian MMOG A Tale in the Desert. They detail new implimentations in the game, such as recent trials, petitions, and some information on the uber-political test of the demi-pharoah. From the article: "Periodically, there is a test of the demi-pharaoh. This test takes all applicants and puts them into juries of seven. The seven people in each jury are given a set amount of time to converse, argue, discuss and pick the most worthy among themselves to advance to the next stage. If all seven cannot agree on one of their own to advance, no one advances."
First they pioneer a non-violent MMO (though I guess IRC could qualify as that). Then they start thinking of alternate styles of gameplay for non-violent scenarios. If any game puts the social aspect in the onling genre first, this one does.
There's a lot more interesting MMORPG projects out there (some that are even open source)
Name one, then. A Tale in the Desert is unique in that it's completely nonviolent and almost 100% player-driven. If I had the time and the money this game would probably get my consideration above the regular MMOs like World of Warcraft, Everquest II, or Final Fantasy XI, just because it seems to be something different from the norm.
...is that it has a rabid, almost cult-like following for a game that wouldn't sell in the bargain bin if it were singleplayer. The game, in complete honesty, is crap. The graphics engine is outclassed by 5-10 year old games, and the nonviolent puzzle aspect revolves around massive time/clicksinks and a horrible user interface.
Seriously, people pay $15/month for this game and seemed to worship the ground that their Pharoh walked on. That such things turn a profit in the industry amaze me.
But concerning your specific query, QG: Maybe you should put together a bite-sized press package for that rpg project o' yers, if it's still runnin'.
There's fighting in it, but it's far from the main focus of the game. In fact, I don't think more than half the players have ever fought at all except to fend of agressive wildlife.
If the cat can't experience its own death, nothing will ever kill you. (No, really!)
Isn't the 7 people picking 1 person just survivor in reverse? I don't watch the show, and I don't see how this is a breakthrough or exciting.
Also, can someone explain to me why "non-violent" is so important? It's not like most mmorpgs are that terribly graphic about the violence anyways; certainly WoW, DAoC, etc don't rate beyond PG or PG-13 in that regard.
-Jeff
Please learn the difference between a dissenting opinion and a troll before you moderate.
Most ATITD players do not pursue Leadership (one of the seven Disciplines). For those that do the jury rounds of Demi-Pharaoh voting are very tense. I've never made it out of first round. Too big a mouth and what good works I do under the radar. The jury rounds move forward until the final candidates go to voting from all of Egypt. It's an important vote: the Demi-Pharaoh can kick paying players. Yup, you read that correctly. Covered Cartouche, also in Leadership, is Survivor: Egypt. Not one of my favorite tests.
;)
ATITD is breathtakingly innovative. While not for everyone it is watched by all MMOG insiders. A short list of its most surprising features:
1) It ends. Each Telling has a concrete and player driven finish. Those who have mastered the tests of a given Discipline design a test in that Discipline for the next Telling.
2) The players are in control. If someone is running around building giant swastikas the devs won't step in. Players must organize and pass laws to ban the player or (as happened once Tale 1) change their name and shame them into quitting. Player written and passed laws can change anything short making flying camels. The devs rewrite the code on the fly to implement them.
3) Addictive drugs with both up- and downsides. As disruptive as it sounds. Drugs can cause death (account deletion) so combine that with #7 below.
4) It's full of adults. Most kids or dorks quit out when they realize there are no rats to kill. Game skews both female and older. Nice side effect of the no combat bit. The game is still very, very, very competitive. It's a GAME, not a There or Sims Online chatline.
5) Ridiculously generous trial on PC, Mac, Linux in English, German, and French. All on the same server. There are French cities. Heck, I've tripped over the guildhall for the Belgian Linux Users Group. Game is lousy with penguins.
6) With few exceptions there is no leveling or skill building. Every major and most minor tasks are mini-games. The implications are enormous. One new player discovered he had a knack for gem cutting, a knack few shared. Within a week he was selling that ability--to cut others' raw materials--throughout Egypt. No leveling of his Gem Cutting Skill before he could tackle the tough ones. (Selling it mostly for trade but also to player run banks and for player maintained currencies.)
7) The Test of Marriage (in Worship) allows the spouse to log in as you *without knowing your password*. There is no divorce. Tale 1's leading artist was murdered by his spouse.
8) eGenesis has three full time employees. They are running a commercially viable and industry shaping game where the likes of Microsoft's Mythica crap out before launch after years of development and millions invested.
9) Nothing is known at game start (and game restart in a new Telling). How does pollution effect crops? What are the patterns of mushroom spawning? What equations govern Thought puzzles solved v. Perception stat increase? Game's a giant nerdtastic set of nested puzzles. Players spreadsheet data and experiment to answer mysteries both great and small.
http://wiki.atitd.net/tale2 is the player run wiki. Info discovered, info wrong, data craved. It's huge and testament to the game's depth. (Also got the flaws of all wikis--not well organized.)
Feeling so good natured I could drool